Safe and Sound
by monique122
Summary: Rose Waters and her six year old daughter Jamie have been traveling alone for some time now, but when Daryl Dixon finds them in the woods, he gives them the opportunity to something normal, and a safe place to call home. DarylxOC
1. Safe Keeping

Rose Marie Waters had been a school nurse before the world turned to shit, she had had friends, she had her parents, a nice house, and a wonderful private school for her six year old daughter Jamie to attend to. Now all she had was her blue SUV, thee suitcases of clothing, a box of nonperishable food and her daughter.

Rose sighed and ran a hand through her dark brown curls, picking off some meat from the rabbit she just cooked up and handed it to Jamie, smiling softly at her. "Just pretend it's not a bunny baby, that's what I do." She says before pulling off another piece of meat for herself and ate it, chewing it slowly making a mm sound to let her daughter know it was good, and smiled when Jamie ate.

"That's my girl." She says, and hands her another piece, glancing around their surroundings, always on edge.

Rose had killed plenty of those things now, she was used to it and she kept the shotgun she carried with her close to her side, but always out of Jamie's reach. Her first kill had been pretty intense, a kid she knew, hell a kid she even liked had come to her office for a fever, he was burning up, and his eyes had gone blood shot. She left him alone to call his parents and when she came back he wasn't moving, he just sat on the gurney, his head drooped low and let out a few moaning sounds. When she called out to him he lifted his head up lazily, his body moving awkwardly and he let out a blood curdling screech and lunged at her, she had killed him with a scalpel. Rose didn't even wait to figure out what was happening, she could hear screams coming from the halls and outside, she went straight for her car, and to Jamie's school. Luckily it was still in touched and everyone seemed to be safe, but Rose wasn't going to stick around and find out. She took Jamie home, packed everything they needed and headed straight for Atlanta like the news reporters had said, but to her disappointment Atlanta was overrun as well, and since then she and her daughter have been on the road, not staying more than a few days in one place.

"Mommy," Rose was pulled from her thoughts and she looked down at her daughter, "There's a man." She says and Rose was up, pulling Jamie up with her and keeping her behind her shot gun raised when the man walked out of the shadows. She hadn't seen him; she could have gotten them killed.

"Get out of here." Rose growled out, shotgun raised, Jamie clutched onto her leg, peaking from behind her to see the man as her mother kept her posture tense, not letting the man move any closer to them.

"I ain't gonna hurt you." He says holding his hands out, but not dropping the crossbow in his hands.

Rose shook her head, taking a step back, keeping Jamie as far away from him as possible, "I'm not trusting that mister, now you go on and leave." She says calmly now, her eyes scanning the man's posture, his face, everything about him. He was the first living person she had seen for some time, and the last time she had it ended badly.

"My name's Daryl," He says setting his crossbow down now, and slowly stood back up, not dropping her gaze. "I was just out hunting when I caught sight of your fire; it's not safe out here alone." He says his eyes moving to the little blonde girl hiding behind the woman.

Rose bit her lip and slowly lowered her gun, holding it to her side with one hand and her other hand moving to hold her daughters. Daryl looked at the two, and for some reason felt like they shouldn't be out here alone, a woman and her baby, it wasn't safe.

"Do you have a name?" Daryl asks keeping his eyes on the girl, and she shrugged, sitting back down on the lawn chair, gun to her side, and daughter in her lap.

"Doesn't matter to you, you don't need to know it." She says keeping Jamie close to her as the man walked towards them once he picked up his crossbow and pulled the strap onto his shoulder. "What is it you want Daryl? We don't have enough food to lend out, and if you try to take it I can promise you your face won't be as pretty as it is now." She says with complete seriousness, and Daryl couldn't help his chuckle.

"No, No I don't need food." He says, and glances behind him to where the farm was. "You two are actually on my friend's land; our group is just a few miles from here. It's safe there." He says, watching as she gave him an incredulous look, obviously not the trusting type. "It's not safe out here, walkers roam these parts of the field…I could talk to the man in charge, see if he minds you and your sister staying at the farm with us." He says gesturing behind him and Rose shook her head.

"She's my daughter, and I'm not sure that's a good idea." She says and stands up, leaving Jamie in the chair. "People haven't been very kind to us, and I don't trust easily. I don't want her to get hurt." She says and Daryl's lips tighten, trying to think.

"It be safer for her at the farm." He says, "We're only there until we find our girl, but everyone's friendly, no one would hurt you or your daughter." He says and Rose takes a breath, looking over at Jamie. She had her stuffed bunny in her arms, her dark brown eyes staring at the man, twisting her blonde curls around her little finger. "Shit lady, I don't care what you do but there's a little boy there, looks to be a couple years older than her, but she'd have someone to play with…and once we find the girl she'd have another friend." Daryl says growing a little impatient at the woman.

"Mommy can we go please?" She begs standing, dragging her rabbit behind her, her little hand pulling on Rose's shirt, "Please mommy, I miss having friends." Rose stares down at her daughter, and sighs nodding slowly.

"Fine…Okay." She says and turns to look at Daryl as Jamie grins and claps happily. Rose walks over to Daryl, and jabs her finger into his chest, getting close to his face. "I swear to god if you are leading my daughter and me into a trap I will kill you." She says in a low growl, and Daryl only shakes his head looking down at the small girl, she was at least a foot shorter than him.

"I don't trick me lady, now get your things together, we can come back for the rest in the mornin'." He says not moving or looking away from her, and Rose nods stepping away, thinking to herself that maybe, just maybe this was her chance to give her daughter something normal in this shit world.


	2. Joining the Group

_**I hope you guys liked the last chapter! I know it was short, but I promise this one will be much longer! Thank you for reading! _

_LostJasmine: I'm so glad you like it and I'm going to try my best to keep updating quickly! I plan on sticking with the show, which is why I started it off before Sophia was killed, so I could have the less with drawn version of Daryl. I hope you like this chapter! Thank you for reviewing!_

Rose had been quiet on their walk to the farm, Daryl walked beside her, carrying the bags she had decided to take until they could go get her SUV in the morning. Jamie had grown tired of walking, so Rose carried her on hip, the little girl asleep now. They had exchanged a few whispers as they walked mostly her telling him her name, and threatening to cut off his family jewels if she got them hurt.

"We're almost there," Daryl said glancing over at Rose as she saw the faint glow of a fire in the distance and she nodded, patting Jamie's back gently to soothe her when she let out a whimper, Daryl looking at the little girl. "Nightmares?" He asks and Rose nods pressing her lips to her daughter's hair, humming a soft melody that always got her back to sleep.

"She has 'em every night, she never sleeps well." She says sadly "Neither of us do." She glances over at Daryl as he makes a noise, and nods.

"I don't think any one does anymore." He says and moves to walk in front of her when some people start running towards them, and Rose shrinks away, and grips the shotgun in her hand, but keeps it to her side, not wanting to alarm the people that were supposed to help her.

"Daryl, who's this?" A man asked calmly, dressed in police uniform, a young boy stood beside him, a woman who must have been his mother held his hand, and she looked at Rose and Jamie, a look of sympathy in her eyes.

"This is Rose Waters," Daryl said firmly, looking over at a man that stood beside the police officer. He was well built, and had a shaved head, but the looks he were sending her way made her nervous, and she was growing anxious. "I found them out in the woods. They were close to town, close to the walkers." He says and glances back at Rose. "I thought it be alright if they stayed in camp with us…Rick the girl is only six." Daryl says and everyone's eyes turned to Rose.

"If you don't want us here I understand." She says softly, causing Jamie to stir in her arms. "Daryl said this place was safe…But we can go back." She says pressing her lips to Jamie's head when she called out to her, her hand going to her daughter's back.

There was a short pause as Rick looked at her, then at the woman beside him, her giving him a nod before he turned back to Rose. "That won't be necessary." He says and steps forward holding his hand out to her, "I'm Rick Grimes." He says with a smile and she took his hand, shaking it and returned his smile. "This is my wife Lori, and my boy Carl." He says gesturing towards his family and Rose nods towards them.

"Nice meeting you." She says softly, and shifts her weight to her other foot as Jamie nuzzled her face against her hair, yawning.

"This is Shane," Rick turned to look at the man who had been glaring at her, and he still didn't seem too happy with her being here but gave her a nod, "This is Andrea, Dale, Carol, T-Dog, and Glenn." Rose's eyes scanned the group of people as Rick announced them all, and they all greeted her warmly.

"We can get you and your girl inside; introduce you to Hershel and his family." Rick says and waves her forward, placing his hand on the small of her back, "He'll get some food into you and let you two get cleaned up." He says giving her another smile and Rose can't help but return it.

Rose was in the bathroom of Hershel's home, glad to have been able to bathe, needing the clean feeling, and not having her hair a tangled mess. She glanced over at the tub as Jamie splashed in it, giggling as she played with a rubber ducky that Maggie, Hershel's daughter had provided. Rose really couldn't believe it, she had never felt this safe since the outbreak and now here she was, sitting in the bathroom, clean, brushing her hair and watching as Jamie laughed for the first time in months. She had missed the sound of her daughter's laugh.

"Rose," She heard the sound of Lori's voice and she turned as the door creaked open slowly, Lori coming in with some clean clothes and Rose smiled. "I noticed that most of your clothes were dirty so I brought you these to sleep in, and an old shirt of Carl's for Jamie until we get yours washed." She says setting the folded clothes down on the sink.

"Thank you Lori," She says softly, "Jamie and I will be out in a minute, thank you again for letting us stay here." She says standing up and Lori shook her head.

"It's no problem, what kind of people would we be if we sent you and your baby out into that world?" She asks, not wanting to think about the things that could happen to the poor child out there.

Rose smiles a nods, thanking Lori anyways before she left then turned to Jamie. "Come on baby girl, time to get dressed." She says and walks over to the tub, letting the water out before picking Jamie up, and set her on the bathroom rug. She dried her off then slipped the shirt over her head that served as a night gown. "There, good as new." She says smiling down at her daughter before handing her the hair brush, "Why don't you brush your hair while mommy gets dressed." She says and Jamie nods, and goes to sit on the toilet.

Rose winces some as she pulls the towel from around her waist, leaving herself in only her under clothes she had put on after she had bathed earlier; she glanced at herself in the mirror grimacing at the rather large cut that ran down her side. She had gotten a few days prior of Daryl finding them when she had ran into a few not so friendly living people. Hershel had patched it up nicely, but it was still sore. She pulled on the button up shirt Lori had brought her, and then slipped on the pajama shorts.

"All done," Rose turned at the sound of Jamie's voice smiling when she saw her hair brushed neatly.

"You look so pretty Jamie; you're such a big girl now." She says and picks her up, pressing her lips to her daughter's cheeks smiling when she giggled and turning to the door as another knock interrupted them, "Come in."

Daryl had pitched a tent next to his for the two girls, and had come to tell them when he heard the giggles from inside the bathroom, which surprisingly made him smile. He walked in when Rose said it was okay to come in, and he let his eyes meet hers thinking to himself how good she looked all cleaned up.

"I uh," He cleared his throat scratching the back of his neck, "I got you a tent set up, your things are in it, and there are two cots for you and Jamie." He says with a nod and turns to leave, stopping when he felt Rose's hand on his elbow.

Rose smiled when he turned around again and moved closer to him, hugging him with one arm, Jamie pressed against his side as she did so. "Thank you for bringing us here." She murmured catching him off guard and he held his arms out awkwardly, not sure what to do until she pulled away again. "Jamie and I…We couldn't be more thankful Daryl, thank you." She said again and Daryl shook his head at her, trying not to seem so effected by her show of affection.

"It's fine…Just make sure your kid stays out of trouble, last thing we need is another missing girl on our hands." He grumbles, then turns away from them and heads back to his tent, leaving the two girls to find the tent for themselves.

Xxxxx

Rose lay in her cot, her daughter curled up into her side her fingers twisted into her hair while Rose read her book in the dim light from the flash light she had in her hands. Jamie had started off in her own cot, then made her way into her mother's when she had another nightmare.

Rose sat up slowly when she heard the sounds of footsteps coming from the left side of her tent, and she uncurled Jamie's fingers from her hair, turning her flashlight off as she saw a shadow approaching her tent and she swallows hard.

"Hey lady," A sigh of relief passed Rose's lips when she heard the sound of Daryl's voice and she laughed a little shaking her head, "You up in there?" He whispers and she stands up, glad the tent was so big and unzipped the door smiling at him.

"Yeah I am, you need something Daryl?" She asks softly, and he shakes his head moving so she could step outside the tent. She looked up at him, the soft light from the moon shining down on her face and she brushed a few messy curls behind her ear, glancing back in the tent to make sure Jamie wasn't waking.

"I'm just checking in, making sure everything's alright." Daryl says, pulling at the strap of his crossbow, "I saw your shadow through the tent is all." He says and Rose laughs a little and sights stretching her arms behind her.

"Yeah everything's fine, I just couldn't sleep and Jamie's taking up most of my cot." She says with a small shrug, glancing to her right when she saw Glenn sneaking around and she raises an eyebrow. "Does he do that often?" She asks turning back to Daryl who shrugs.

"He's sleeping with the Maggie girl, I'm the only one who's noticed it seems." Rose can't help but smile a little shaking her head. It was so normal, sneaking around with a girl behind her father's back. She thought to herself that she was going to like this place; it almost made her forget what was happening outside the fences of the farm.

"Jamie's fast asleep; you want to go sit somewhere?" She asks titling her head to the side smiling a little as Daryl shrugs and she turns, checking on Jamie again before zipping up the tent. She followed Daryl to the small fire that was only a few feet in front of their tents, the fire was small, only sparks of a red glow shown through the burnt wood, but it gave enough heat to keep Rose from shivering.

Daryl set his crossbow beside him on the log, his eyes wandering around their surroundings, up at the sky, then finally back to Rose. He hadn't been looking for anyone; it had just been him and Merle for the longest of time. But now his brother was gone, he barely spoke to anyone in the group other than Carol after he went looking for Sophia. Rose wasn't what he expected her to be, when he first saw her and the little girl sitting around the fire he'd assume she'd be another pansy, scared shitless of every little noise, and shot at anything that moved. But Rose wasn't like that, when he had approached him she held that shotgun with pride, didn't flinch, didn't shake, hell she didn't even shout. She was a mom, she was young, and she was a survivor, something he'd already grown to like in the few hours they had been together.

"So Daryl," Daryl snapped out of his thoughts and looked at her as she smiled, "What's your story?" She asked sweetly, leaning towards him some and Daryl's lips tightened, his hands resting his on the top of his thighs. He wasn't one to give out his life story, and he didn't plan to start.

"Don't matter," He says with a shrug, looking away from her towards the woods. Rose rolls her eyes, noting to herself it get him to reveal his secrets one day if she were going to be here long.

"Not the talkative type then?" She asks raising an eyebrow at him, stretching her legs out in front of her, the warmth of the small fire making her skin heat up. Daryl shrugged again not answering her question his eyes moving down her legs and to the fire, listening to the sound of the bugs, the horses in the distance, and the quiet breaths of the rest of the group members as they slept.

Rose sighed, "I used to be a nurse." She says which caught Daryl's attention, "Went through eight years of medical school, and got my nursing degree. I worked at a high school." She said with a roll of the eyes, running her fingers through her hair. "I hate to say I miss it, but I do." She says looking at him as he watched her, listening to her intently.

Daryl had loads of questions for Rose, she'd been on her own with just her little girl this entire time, and he wondered where the husband was, how she learned to handle a gun, how to hunt. But he wasn't sure if he wanted to know, he didn't need to be getting himself attached to the girl just she she'd end up dead like everyone else.

"Where's Jamie's daddy?' He asks now, out of curiosity and he didn't think it hurt, but he saw the anger sweep across Rose's face before she shrugged.

"Don't know, don't care." She says bluntly trying not to think of Ryder; how he left as soon as he found out she was pregnant with Jamie. Daryl's eyes lingered on her face, wishing now he hadn't angered her with his question, he stands up, picking his crossbow up with him.

"I'm going to go now, you best get to bed." Daryl mutters looking down at Rose one last time before leaving, trotting in the opposite direction leaving Rose alone and she sighed standing up.

She didn't know why she had wanted to get to know him, maybe it was because he had brought her here, or maybe it was because she was lonely, but she knew she shouldn't even be thinking about getting close to anyone, she had to look after Jamie, keep her safe, she couldn't let her guard down so someone could hurt her, or her daughter, no matter how good looking that person may be.


	3. Pinky Promise

_*Here's a new chapter! Thank everyone who reviewed and liked the story! I'm so grateful for all of you and I hope you enjoy the new chapter! Make sure to review and I will give you lots and lots of love! Feel free to make suggestions!_

Daryl had gotten back to camp as soon as the sun started to rise, he'd went out looking for Sophia again, taking out all the Walkers that were near the farm in the process. He leaned against the counter in the kitchen, eating an apple Glenn had handed to him as Lori and Andrea cooked breakfast for everyone. He kept his mouth shut as the two girls chatted, his eyes moving to the door way as Rose walked in, Jamie following in her footsteps rubbing her eyes sleepily.

"Hey," Lori greeted Rose first smiling down at Jamie as Rose helped her up onto the counter, Glenn handing her an apple. "How'd you two sleep last night?" Lori asked, chopping up some potatoes and Rose shrugged, running her hand through Jamie's hair as she bit into the apple.

"Jamie slept like a baby in my cot, while I stayed up most of the night." She says, making a face at the little girl, making her giggle which brought a smile to everyone's face, even Daryl's.

"Sounds a bit like how Carl was before we got here." Lori says and Rose nods, smiling a little before pressing her lips to Jamie's forehead, "Why don't you go play with Carl baby, I think I saw him on the porch with Rick." She says and helps Jamie down, ruffling her hair before the little girl ran out the room and Daryl turned his attention to the apple in his hands to keep from looking at Rose.

Rose sighed and leaned against the counter, the exhaustion finally settling in, "So Rose." She looked up at the sound of Andrea's voice, who left Lori to finish off the food and walked over to her, leaning against the counter beside her.

"Where were you before all this happened?" She asked curious, and Daryl looked up from his apple now, waiting for her to answer.

"Louisiana," Rose said with a smile, which made since to the rest of them because of her the strange accent she carried. "New Orleans actually, my home town." When Rose spoke she pronounced New Orleans as 'Nawlins' and that brought a smile to Daryl's face for some reason, watching as she proudly talked about her home, and how she missed it.

"Jamie loved it there, she loved Mardi Gras." Rose smiles a little before it dawns on that it was all gone, and she fights back the sadness, doing her best to keep a smile on her face. "Is there anything I can help with?" She asks now, needing to change the subject and Lori shook her head.

"Don't think so, breakfast will be done in a couple minutes." She says her smile brightening when Rick walked into the room and Rose turns her head at the sound of Jamie's giggles, seeing her walk in, Carl's hat on her head, hanging over her eyes and she laughs.

"Now where's a camera when I need one." She muses to herself, only Daryl catching her words before she leans down to pick up Jamie, tilting the hat back some to press a kiss to her nose.

"Carl let me borrow his hat." Jamie said happily, her little hands reaching back to keep the hat in place once her mother titled it back, "He says I can be a sheriff like him and his daddy." She says, and Rose smiles, glancing over at Carl as he winked at Jamie.

"Well that sure is nice of him, you promise not to arrest me?" She asks and Jamie nods once, the hat covering her eyes again.

"Good, Jamie honey mommy is going to go get the car after breakfast." She says and Jamie moves the hat, her eyes going wide.

"Can I come too?" She asks and Rose shakes her head glancing over at Lori as she gave her a small smile.

"No baby, you have to stay here with Lori. I promise I will be right back though, I just need to get the rest of our things. Your toys are still in the car." She says poking her belly when she pouted, trying to get her to smile again.

"You pinky promise?" Jamie sticks her pinky out, something they had done since Jamie was old enough to talk and Rose takes her daughters tiny pinky in hers, giving her nod.

"Pinky Promise."

Xxxxxxxxx

Rose had sat at the dinner table, eating breakfast with the rest of the group and found that she actually seemed to like everyone. The only one she was iffy about still was Shane, but that was only because he didn't seem very happy with her and her daughter being there still, and sent glares her way. But now all the fun was over and Rose was packing a bag, Jamie latched onto her leg begging and crying to her not to go without her even though she had pinky promised. She pulled her bag onto her back, pulling her hair up into a messy bun.

"Jamie honey let go of my leg." She says glancing over at Daryl who had an amused look on his face, the Grimes standing to his right.

Jamie shook her head, "No. I don't want you to go." She says burying her face into her leg and Rose sighed watching as Daryl reached down and pulled her daughter from her leg, and set Jamie down in front of him as he crouched down so he was eye level with her.

"How about I make you a promise." He says, a firm hand on her shoulder as Jamie stared at him, her eyes puffy and a thumb in her mouth. She nodded slowly and Daryl smiles, "I promise I'll bring your momma back safe and sound, if you stay here and guard all out stuff." He says and Jamie pulls her thumb from her mouth, holding her pinky out.

"You have to pinky promise, because it's unbreakable." She says and Rose smiles, glancing over at Rick and Lori as they laughed. Daryl looks at the little blonde girl in front of him and sighs. With a roll of his eyes he takes the girl's pinky with his.

"I pinky promise." He says and Jamie catches Daryl of guard by hugging him tight. Jamie pulls back and Daryl stands back up as the little girl turns her back to him and wraps her arms around her mom's legs, and Rose leans down to pick her up, hugging her tightly and presses her lips to her cheek.

"I'll be back soon Jamie." She says smiling pulling back some to kiss her nose, then handed her over to Lori.

Daryl and Rose left then, Rose already growing anxious being away from Jamie and she kept her pace quick, glad Daryl seemed to be able to keep up with her. She was humming 'Something' by The Beatles to herself as they walked, something she always did when she was silent, and she could feel Daryl's eyes on her every now and again.

"How'd you learn to do all that? Hunt and shoot." He says when Rose gives him a confused look. "I mean no offense but you don't seem like the type a girl who gets along well out here in the wild." He says with a shrug and Rose can't help but chuckle.

"Judging a book by its cover huh?" She asks earning another shrug from him then sighed, reaching in her bag and grabbed the water bottle, taking a sip from it then put it back. "My daddy taught me." She says glancing over at him as he nods. "We lived out in the woods, he went out camping every weekend, didn't have any sons so he dragged me along with him, taught me how to survive." She says smiling a little as she thought of her father. "Momma always got made at him when I'd come home all dirty and cut up."

"Makes sense, you seem like a daddy's girl." He teases and she rolls her eyes at him walking alongside him, their arms brushing whenever she stumbles. She was light on her feet, and was good at keeping silent but whenever she was tired she tended to turn into a clutz.

"You're just mad since I had you scared shitless the night you found me." She said teasingly, glaring as he let out a snort.

"Yeah, scared you'd shoot at me and draw all the walkers towards us." He says looking down at her as she stumbled over her feet again and he gripped her forearm to keep her up right, "Did you sleep at all last night?" He asks and Rose shakes her head.

"Jamie kept me up all night, and I don't sleep very often." She says pulling her arm away from his grasp now, and walks ahead of him. "Daryl we should speed up, I need to get back to Jamie." She murmurs and hears him grumble.

"You're the one walking like a fuckin' turtle, you're tripping over your own damn feet." He says and moves to walk in front of her, "I'll lead, and you follow. Don't pass out back there." He says and gains at least a few feet on her and she glares at the back of his head, trying to catch up to him

"You never answered my question." Rose says, taking big steps to catch up with him again he looked over his shoulder, a cigarette in his mouth that she hadn't even seen him light.

"I don't know what you're talking about." He grumbles, his words drawn out, his accent thick, something Rose had always liked.

"Last night, I asked about your life, you wouldn't tell me." She says and was beside him now, and snatched the cigarette from his lips, and brought it to her own, relishing in the feel of the smoke that hit the back of her throat, the small high coursing through her making her feel at ease and she handed it back, blowing the smoke out as he gave her glare.

"You don't need to know it; I don't go around telling damn strangers about my life." Daryl says taking his cigarette back from her, surprised she was a smoker. Rose sighed and shrugged, her temper flaring up at the way he spoke to her.

"No need to get touchy." She says and picks her pace up, wanting to get to her SUV and back to Jamie as soon as possible. She raised her gun at the sound of a moan and she glanced to her right, where her SUV had been stashed behind the trees to see three walkers heading towards them and she sighed. "Great." She grumbled raising her shotgun but Daryl gripped the barrel of it, pushing it back down.

"Gun shots will get more coming I'll handle it." He says looking over at her and she watches as he raises his cross bow, and shoots an arrow into the walker's head, loading up another arrow, and did the same for the third, all three walkers down on the ground and Daryl walked over to them, pulling his arrows out. Rose walked over to him, scrunching her nose up as the smell of the rotten flesh hit her, making bile rise to her throat that she fought back, and turned her attention to Daryl as he cleaned off an arrow, loading it up in the crossbow.

"I need to get one of those." She mutters making Daryl chuck before turning and she follows him into the clearing where her car was parked, her eyes widening a little as they saw at least a dozen walkers surrounding the car and Daryl gripped her hand, pulling her to him and behind a tree putting a finger to his lips. She nods slowly, his body pressed up against hers as he peaks around the tree to see, planning the best way to take out the fuckers without drawing more to them or to the farm. The sound of thunder roared over their heads, and both survivors' looked up at the sky as it started to pour down rain for the first time in weeks and Rose let out a whimper, afraid. She needed to get back to Jamie, the walkers were surrounding the car, only a few feet away and she was sure the rain was going to mess up her balance once the mud started forming.

"Daryl," Rose whispered his name now which made Daryl look down at her, "What are we going to do? There are too many of them." She says trying to keep her voice low and emotionless but her voice cracked some, giving away her fear and Daryl swallowed hard looking away from her and back to the walkers, one of them coming near them.

"I want you to run for the car." He says a plan forming in his head that could get himself killed, but he had promised that little girl he'd make sure her momma stayed safe. "I'll cover you, and kill as many as possible, then I'll catch up with you." He says and Rose shakes her head, not liking the idea, not wanting him to get killed because of her.

"Daryl," She says and he takes her face in his hands shutting her up when the walker got closer.

"Just listen to me, I'll ain't gonna get hurt, I promise." He says, and Rose swallows down the lump in her throat, his touch doing things to her she didn't want to like. She gripped his wrists, and took his pinky in hers which made him smile.

"Don't break it." She says and takes a breath before he pulls back, and fires an arrow at the walker that was closet to them, and Rose ran for it.


	4. Dickhead

*_New chapter now up! I hope you guys like it! I'm somewhat fond of it myself actually don't forget to review, and let me know what you guys think! _

Rose's heart raced, adrenaline pumped through her veins and she shoved passed walkers, taking her hunting knife and stabbing some in the head, kicking others out of the way. She screamed when she felt one grip the back of her jacket, Daryl calling out to her killing a walker that was to the right of her and she slipped out of the jacket, and gripped the door handle, opening it and slamming a walker in the head with it.

"Daryl come on! I can't leave you here!" Rose cried out looking over at him as two walkers stormed towards him, and Rose punched one of the walkers in the face, and reached into the car feeling around for her pistol that had a silencer on it that she had picked up from a police station. She felt a walker grip on her leg, trying to pull her out of the car, she kicked it as hard as she could in the face before standing up, and shot it in the head then aimed at the walkers heading for Daryl, getting them both dead center in the back of the head. She slammed the door shut and shot at the other zombies, hitting one in the knee brought it down and then shot it in the head, blood splattering over her clothes.

Daryl aimed for the walker heading towards her, and the arrow zoomed past her head, and into the Walker's mouth, making it fall back and Rose turned to him, breathing heavily rain still pouring down.

"See? Didn't need to leave you." She breathes wiping some of the drops of blood from her face and looked around at the muddy dead bodies that surrounded them. Daryl was a little angry at her for not listening to him, and he ran a hand down his face shaking his head looking at the Rose, blood and mud covered her body, and her brown curls clung to her face.

"You should have done what I said." He grumbles and walks over to her, taking the pistol from her hands, and shoved it in the back of his pants ignoring her protests. "Silencer or not, if there are any fucking walkers nearby they probably heard and are coming here." He says and grips her arm, and pulls her to the passenger side like a toddler.

"Excuse me!" She snapped jerking her arm back from him glaring up at him, "I just saved your ass and you're going to get mad at me?" She says her face inches from his as he glares down at her.

"You could have gotten yourself killed." He says in a low grumble and Rose rolls her eyes. She reaches forward for the car door handle and pulls it open, hitting Daryl in the back and made him stumble forward.

"You're insufferable." She says and climbs into her car, turning to do a quick inventory check as Daryl glared at her before gathering up all his arrows from the dead walkers then climbed into the driver's seat, his eyes wandering over her body as her white tank top rode up her back some, showing a tattoo of a bow peeking out of her jeans and he swallows turning away.

"Why aren't you starting the car?" Rose turns to look at him giving him an annoyed look and he turns his head sending her a look before pointing to her pocket where she had the car keys and she nodded a little embarrassed. "Oh yeah." She says quietly and fishes her keys from her pocket, handing them to him. Daryl tries to hide his smile at the sight of her rosy cheeks, and she turns in her seat, going through her things. She was filthy, her tanned bare legs splattered with mud and blood as was her white tank top.

"Jamie gonna be scared if she sees you like that?" Daryl asks glancing over at her and Rose nods, searching for the diaper wipes she had.

"Yeah she won't mind the mud, but blood always freaks her out, which is why I'm looking for something." She says and sighs, moving so her knees were on the center console, and she searches through the back seat, gripping a blue shirt and tossed it over her shoulder to change into.

Daryl leaned to his left as Rose moves, her bottom in the air making the wet tan shorts she wore tighten more and he swallows keeping his eyes on the road, hearing her let out a groan as she reached for something then a squeal of delight when she pulled back with a box of diaper wipes and he laughs a little.

"What are you laughing at?" She asks not helping her smile as she glances over at him, wiping the blood from her legs with the diaper wipe, tossing the dirty ones in the plastic bag she had in the front that was full of trash.

"How excited you got over a box ass wipes." He says laughing again as she rolls her eyes, tossing the last dirty wipe into the bag and closed the box.

"These things are life savers." She sates, and leans forward, pulling the wet bloody white shirt over her head, leaving herself in only a black bra, Daryl's turning his head back to the road now, not wanting to be caught looking. Rose pulls the blue shirt over her head and sighs slipping her arms in, pulling her hair from it and took it from its ponytail, running her fingers through it.

"You don't think the walkers will be able to follow us to the barn?" She asks turning to look at him as his hands tighten on the wheel, peering out the rained streaked window.

"Dunno," He says in a gruff voice, glancing at her from the corner of his eye, "S'pose they might, I'll tell Rick what happened when we get back." He says and Rose feels guilty and sighs leaning back in the car seat.

"Well I'm sure doing a great job at making myself seem useful." She murmurs and Daryl chuckles.

"You should've listened to me, then we wouldn't be in this shit." He says and Rose sends him a look.

"Yeah, but you'd be walker chow." She says with a smirk and he rolled his eyes at her, thinking to himself that he liked the look she was giving him.

"Believe what you want sweetheart." He says titling his head to look over at her and she bites her lip smiling unsure why she liked his voice so much, and the way he had called her sweetheart.

Daryl smiles to himself, glancing at the clock and seeing they had only been gone a hour tops, and the farm house was clearly in view in front of them. He slowed the car, and pulled up behind his motorcycle. Daryl turned the car off and Rose climbed out seeing Jamie running to her, her little rain boots on splashing mud up as she ran and Rose crouched down, letting Jamie jump into her arms and she spun her around, pressing her lips to her face.

"Mommy! You're back!" Jamie squealed and Daryl walked over as Rick and Lori made their way over quickly with an umbrella.

"Come on, everyone's inside, Jamie ran out as soon as she saw the headlights." Rick said over the rain and smiled at Rose. The five headed back towards the farm house, and Rose smiled breathing in the smell of food, and wood burning. She kicked her mud covered shoes off, and pulled Jamie's off, setting the on the porch as Daryl took his off and she set Jamie down.

Rose sighed pulling her wet hair up into a ponytail again, and glanced around as Jamie ran around the house, following around Carl which made her smile, glad her daughter had someone to play with. Daryl walked towards the dining room where all the adults seemed to be. Rose looked around the crowded room, leaning against the wall as Daryl walked in getting everyone's attention.

"Walkers might be traveling into these parts." He says causing scared expressions to form on everyone's faces, "Rosie here didn't listen to me, and tried to be Buffy." He says glancing over at her as she glares, "We should be fine if we keep a look out all hours, switch off who's got watch every hour." Daryl says, pulling at the strap of his crossbow.

"Man, I knew letting her in was going to cause trouble." Shane said, sending her daggers and Rose stood her ground stepping forward.

"I know I should have listened to Daryl," She says softly, everyone turning to look at her. "But if I had I reckon he'd be dead right now." She says, with a slight shrug making Daryl roll his eyes.

"I would have been just fine." He spat out turning to her and she laughs shaking her head at him getting ready to snap back before Rick stood up, interrupting the argument.

"It's fine," He says sending Shane a look when he opened his mouth, "You did the right think saving Daryl.

"The hell she did!" Daryl growled, making Rose laugh.

"I so did cowgirl." She said smugly rolling her head to look at him as he glared and Rick sighed shaking his head.

"I'll keep watch first," Daryl grumbled and left the room angrily, Rose sighing running a hand through her hair. Everyone left the room then including Rose and she walked through the farm house, smiling when she found Jamie sitting in front of the fire with Carl, him telling her a story about how he got shot.

"Jim Jam," Jamie turned at the sound of her mother's voice and smiles up at her. "I think it's about time for bed baby." She says glancing at the window, glad the rain had died down some. Jamie groaned and stuck her bottom lip out.

"I don't wanna momma, I want to stay with Carl." She says and Rose sighs leaning her head against the door frame.

"Baby I'm sure it's about Carl's bedtime soon, and mommy's tired." She says holding her hand out, "You know I can't sleep alone." She says, pouting now and Jamie sighs, standing up sluggishly as she tells Carl goodnight and walks over to her mom.

"You're old mommy," She says taking her hand making Rose laugh, "You should be able to sleep alone." She says as the reach the porch, and the girls slip their shoes back on.

"I'd rather sleep with my baby though." She says and picks Jamie up, nuzzling into her hair making her giggle as they walk towards their tent. Rose listens to Jamie chatter on about her what she did at the farm while she was away, and how Carl took her to pet the horses, and Maggie let her ride on one.

Rose saw Daryl crouched down in front of his tent, gathering up some things she was sure so he could keep watch.

"Jamie go in and get changed into your pajamas, momma's got to talk to Mr. Daryl." She says setting Jamie down as Daryl glances over at her, standing up straight.

"Whadya want?" He asks glancing down as the Jamie waved at him before she hurried into the tent, "I got to go keep watch of the mess you made."

"You're something else Dixon," She says shaking her head chewing on her bottom lip as she thought of what she wanted to say, but all she could think of was his touch.

"S'that all you wanted? Or do you want to swap stories some more?" He asks acting like he didn't want to talk to her, but he actually did, he wasn't sure why, and he didn't want to know why.

Rose glares at him shaking her head, "Yeah, that's all I wanted dickhead." She says and turns, storming into the tent seeing Jamie sitting on her cot, in a night gown, a book in her hands.

"Why are you so mean to Mr. Daryl?" Jamie asks and Rose looks sighs, and sits on her cot running her hands down her face.

"You weren't supposed to hear that." She murmurs against her hands before looking back up at Jamie as she waited for her to answer. "Mr. Daryl is frustrating." She says shaking her head and stands up, pulling her shirt over her head and tosses it in the corner of the room.

"Was my daddy frustrating? What does frustrating mean?" Jamie had a hard time saying the word, and it came out as 'frusetating', but Rose freezes once the question left her mouth, and she bit her lip before going back through her suitcase, grabbing a lose shirt to pull on, then some shorts. "Is that why I don't have a daddy?" Rose sighs shaking her head and sits down on the cot beside Jamie.

"I…well that's some of the reasons." She says quietly, not sure what to say. Jamie never asked about her father before this, she always seemed so content with just having her mother, but Rose knew that she'd eventually wonder, and it was probably because she had been around Carl and his father all day.

"Is daddy gone cause you were mean to him? Like you are to Mr. Daryl?" She asks now looking up at her and Rose feels that pain in her heart, and she shakes her head.

"It's time to go to sleep baby, we'll talk about this later." She says and stands up, tucking Jamie in and handing her the stuffed rabbit, staring down at her for a moment before sighing, pressing her lips to her forehead. "Night."

Xxx

Daryl was just coming back from his watch, Andrea had relieved him and now he headed for his tent. He was tired to say the least after his long day, but he didn't think he'd be able to sleep, not with Rose and Jamie asleep in the tent next to him. His mind raced through everything that had happened today, everything Rose had done, had said. He was getting far too interested in her and it was best if he backed off now, left her and that little girl alone. The group would take care of them; he had to focus on finding Sophia. He knelt in front of his tent, unzipping it so he could go in when he heard the tent beside him unzip and Jamie peeked her little head out, smiling when she saw him.

"Mr. Daryl," She says softly and tips toe out of her tent and over to where he sat back.

"What are you doing up Jamie? You should get back to your momma." He says glancing over at the tent where he could hear Rose's steady breathing, and Jamie shook her head, clutching the stuffed rabbit in her hands.

"Mom's sleeping." She says quietly, and Daryl noticed she shared the same southern accent as her mother which made him smile a little, "She's not mean, my mommy." She says and Daryl looks at her confused.

"I never said she was mean." He says quietly and Jamie shakes her head rubbing her eyes.

"She called you a dickhead," This made Daryl laugh hearing a child as sweet as her say a word like that and he tried his hardest not to laugh to loudly, "She uses words like that a lot, she said you were frustrating her." Daryl smiles and stands up.

"Jamie you should go to bed." He says again and the little girl looks up at him shaking her head.

"My dad was frustrating." She says and Daryl frowned, "Mommy won't tell me about him…But you shouldn't be frustrating, so my mommy can be happy." Daryl sighed shaking his head and turned Jamie around walking her back over to the front of her tent opening the flap and saw Rose sleeping in the cot, her cover barely on her.

"Go to bed Jamie." He says and points to her bed and Jamie sighs, she turns around and wraps her arms around his legs.

"Thank you for bringing my mom back." She murmurs against his legs before pulling away and walked into her tent. Daryl watched as she climbed into her bed, and pulled her covers over her waving at him before he closed the tent and headed for his, thinking to himself that these girls were going to be the death of him.


	5. Southern Charm

*_Here's the new chapter, I hope everyone likes it! Don't forget to review and let me know what you think!_

Rose woke up to the sound of Jamie screaming and she sat up quickly, looking around seeing the tent open.

"Jamie!" She screamed and threw herself off the cot running out the tent, and sighs at the sight. Jamie laughed now, and then let out another scream as she ran from Daryl. Wait Daryl? Rose rubbed the sleep from her eyes, watching as Daryl picked Jamie up and spun her around making her daughter squeal in delight.

"Mommy!" Jamie called out now, hanging from Daryl's shoulder as he walked over to Rose, giving her a small smile before setting Jamie down. "Mr. Daryl was playing with me, you were still asleep." She says and Rose looks over at Daryl as he shrugs.

"She was wandering around camp, Lori's got Carl studying so I thought I'd keep her busy, let you sleep in." He says scratching the back of his head, watching her confused expression fade and turn into a smile.

"Oh. Well thank you." She says quietly, pulling her hair to the side, and looked down at Jamie. "You eat already?" She asks and Jamie nods.

"Mr. Daryl gave me food, and then Glenn gave me a peach." She says grinning just in time for Glenn to walk over, a basket of peaches in hand.

"Moring Rose." He says giving her a smile and let her take a peach, "Daryl, Rick wants to talk to you before you leave." Glenn says, and Rose looks at him confused.

"I've got to go out searching for Sophia." He explains, watching as she nods and brushes some of her unruly curls behind her ear, sleep still clear in her eyes.

"You go all alone? That's kind of dangerous." She says watching as Jamie followed after Glenn, pulling at his shirt to get him to pay attention to her.

"I'll be fine," He says with a shrug, "That's what I was doing the night I ran into you." Daryl hears Rick call his name and he sighs, "Got to go." He says and walks over to his tent, and grabs his crossbow before walking towards Rick, Rose watching as he left.

Rose smiles a little watching as Jamie ran to Daryl when he passes her and latches onto his leg, ignoring his protests for her to get off him, making Rose laugh when he groans and starts walking, Jamie giggling as she got a free ride over to Rick and Shane where she'd only be shooed away.

Rose sighs shaking her head still smiling when she walked back into her tent and pulled her sleeping clothes off, she searched through her belongs, finding some clothes to wear and settled for her denim shirt, a white tank top and a long sleeved blue flannel shirt. She got dressed quickly, and sat on the cot brushing all the knots out of her hair before pulling it to the side and braided it.

She left her tent after she pulled her boots on and headed towards everyone smiling as Jamie ran over to her, a stick in hand, Carl chasing after her.

"Be careful with that stick Jamie!" She said as Jamie ran past her, Carl stopping beside Rose, leaning over some to catch his breath and she laughs. "She can wear you out huh?" She asks patting his back when he nods before he runs off to chase her and she smiles, biting into her peach and made her way to Lori.

"Hey," She says smiling as Lori waves. "Anything I can do to help today?"

"We're on laundry duty." Lori says with a sigh, leaning down to pick up a laundry basket and passed it to her, "Gather up everyone's laundry on that side of camp, and I'll handle this side then we'll meet up at the pond." Rose nods and turns on her heel, heading straight for her tent first, and gathered all the dirty clothes she had, which were only a few since Lori had washed them a few nights prior. She stops Daryl when he walks passed the open tent, and hurries out with the basket.

"I need your clothes," She says and he looks at her confused touching his shirt and she laughs shaking her head. "Not the one's you're wearing princess, your dirty ones." She says and sets her basket down by his tent.

"Bout time you get to doing your womanly work," He says with a chuckle as he unzips his tent, earning a look from her.

"Didn't peg you for a sexist Daryl, of course I could have just assumed, southern accent and all." She says walking into the tent with him, letting out a whistle. "A sexist and a pig." She states seeing the mess of his tent before she sits on his bed.

"You're one to talk sweetheart, with a southern accent like that it's no wonder you're off doing laundry and taken care of the little ones." She rolls her eyes at him.

"Fuck off." She says playfully and he laughs sitting down across from her on his suitcase.

"You know for a momma you sure do have a mouth on you." He says which makes her roll her eyes again, stretching out her legs in front of her.

"Well I haven't always been a mother Daryl." She says with a shrug, crossing her ankles.

"Obviously, not much of a mother, you're more like a toddler yourself actually." He says and she narrows her eyes at him.

"You think you're cute but you're not." She says bitterly, which makes a smug look form across his face before he points at her.

"Liar." He says, and stands up grabbing his dirty clothes, and threw them into the laundry basket. "There you go darlin', now get to doing your job." He says as she walks out of his tent, seeing him walking away towards the stables, off to search for Sophia.

xxxxx

Rose was had been washing laundry with Lori for almost an hour now, mainly working on Daryl's. His clothes were filthy; they were stiff with blood, mud and sweat. She almost wanted to throw the button up shirt she was washing into the pond when she found it was near impossible to get the stain out of the sleeve, but the blood was starting to wash off so she gave the shirt another chance.

"So Rose," Lori started catching Rose's attention and she turns to look at her, pausing her scrubbing of Daryl's shirt. "I don't know if I can ask this but…What's happened to Jamie's dad?" She asks and Rose sighs, leaning back on her heels.

"No, it's okay." She says glancing over towards where Jamie was with Carl, the two laying on the ground and looking up at the sky. "I was twenty when I met him, Ryder." She says with a small smile, "We never got married, but we had been with each other for two years when I got pregnant with Jamie, and he just left, in the middle of the night, no note, no good bye, nothing." She says shaking her head as she remembered, "I was eight months along." She says quietly, and goes back to scrubbing Daryl's shirt.

"Oh wow I... I'm sorry." Lori says quietly, watching as Rose shrugged.

"He was a prick, Jamie was better off without him anyways. He never grew up, I grew out of my party girl ways and he stayed." She murmurs holding Daryl's shirt in front of her, satisfied with it and set it in the pile of clothes to be hung up to dry, and went to work on one of Jamie's dresses.

Lori smiled a little; glad Rose was opening up to her like this. She had honestly liked Rose, she was laid back, friendly, and wanted to help the group, and she'd given Carl someone to occupy his time with. "Well Jamie's a sweet little girl, you've raised her right." She says and Rose smiles.

"Thank you," She says turning to glance back at Jamie and Carl, "Carl's a good boy, I'm glad Jamie's got a friend…It's been so long since we've been with people this kind."

"Were you in a group before this?" Lori asks turning to her, her load of laundry done and Rose nods sighing a little.

"We were, briefly…They were…They were real bad people, they hurt me, tried to hurt Jamie." She says her hand going to her side, the gash still sore.

"We haven't met anyone like that, we got lucky with Hershel." Lori says her eyes following Rose's hand, "They did that to you? I saw it when Hershel was stitching you up."

Rose sighs and stands up, grabbing her pile of wet clothes and headed towards the clothes line, Lori following. "Jamie and I had been on the road for a week, and we ran into this small group, two guys and a girl." She says as pins up the dress. "They seemed nice, and they had food, lots of it. So they took us in." She says Lori listening to her intently, pinning up her own clothes. "But one night one of the guys, Bill I think his name was, he came over to me…wanted me to 'repay' him and his buddy for letting me and Jamie stay." She says letting out a humorless laugh, "The girl I'm sure had been in the same situation I was in, and stayed in her tent…I stabbed the fucker in the leg, and that's how I got cut."

"How'd you get away?" Lori asks, the things some people were capable of doing astonished her, she could never hurt someone like that…not for no reason, she was glad Rose stabbed the monster.

"Held a gun to his head, shot the other dead." She says turning to look at Lori, and shrugged. "I wasn't about to let him hurt Jamie." She says quietly and Lori nods, she would have done the same thing to keep Carl safe.

"Momma," I looked over at Jamie when she called out to me, "When's Mr. Daryl coming back? He promised me he'd take me for a walk." Jamie said and Rose looks at her confused, Daryl had agreed to spend time with her daughter? Normally she'd be pissed someone was doing things without her permission, but Jamie seemed to like Daryl a lot, and she was safe with him.

"I don't know baby." Rose says seeing Jamie frown before turning back to chase after Carl. Daryl had been gone for hours now.

"Daryl normally stays gone until nightfall; he never gives up looking for Sophia." Lori says and Rose nods, trying not to seem so worried.

"Yeah, he's a good guy…he's a prick though." Rose says making Lori chuckle. "Jamie likes him a lot, she likes his voice." Rose says looking over at Lori as she smiles.

Lori got ready to open her mouth when there was a gunshot, Rose and Lori looked at each other before running towards the sound Lori telling Carl to stay with Jamie.

Rose ran as fast as she could, seeing Rick and Shane dragging someone towards camp, and when she saw it was Daryl her head dropped.

"What happened? Is he okay?" She shouted running over to them, following after them as they dragged him to the house seeing Jamie running towards them now.

"He was shot." Rick said through gritted teeth, and Rose heard Jamie scream 'Mr. Daryl".

"Jamie baby come here," Rose said as Jamie started to cry and she picked her up, and sits down on the porch as everyone enters the house, her heart racing. He was shot, there was so much blood…she had just met Daryl, but she didn't want him to die. He couldn't die.

Rose took Jamie inside while Hershel stitched Daryl up, she kept Jamie in the living room with Carl while she stood outside the door, listening to Daryl explain what had happen, how the horse bucked him off here where he fell down a hill, his arrow lodging itself into his side, and where he found Sophia's doll. Daryl had come through for the group, but he had been hurt hell Andrea even shot him. Rose took a step back as Carol walked out of the room, giving her a sad look before leaving the house and Rose sighed. She glanced over at Jamie on the couch before motioning to her to come over, and slowly cracked open the door.

Daryl had been lying in bed, thinking about what Carol had told him, that he was every bit as good as the rest of them. But he really had a hard time believe it and he wanted to be alone. He got ready to snap at whoever was trying to bother him now until he saw it was Rose, Jamie at her side.

"Mr. Daryl." Jamie spoke first and the little girl was sniffling, and her eyes were red and puffy. Daryl let out a sigh and sat up slowly, wincing as he did so and Rose sat beside him, helping him sit up.

"She wanted to see you before bed." Rose whispered to him, her hand resting on his arm as Jamie walked over and set her rabbit beside him on the bed.

"I want you to keep him until you're better." She says and Daryl shakes his head, "No. You have to, whenever I get hurt he always makes me feel better, so you have to keep him." She says and Rose smiles at Jamie, shaking her head.

Jamie never parted with that rabbit, she had had it since she was a baby, carried it around with her everywhere, and she never even let Rose take it. But here she was, loaning it out to Daryl, and Rose knew that her daughter really had a thing for him, which made her nervous.

"Jamie, can you give me and Daryl a minute? I'll be right out." She says and Jamie starts to protest but Rose sends her the mom look and she sighs and climbs onto the bed, pressing a kiss to Daryl's bandaged head before hurrying out to where Carl was.

"How are you feeling?" Rose asks quietly, moving so she could face him giving him a small smile and Daryl shrugs laying back in the bed.

"About as good as I look." He murmurs biting his bottom lip when she trailed her fingers along his arm.

"So you must feel like shit then huh?" She laughs which makes him chuckle while she moves to take his hand in hers and she brings it to her lips. "No more going out alone Daryl." She says softly and he looks at her for a moment, not understand this affection, not wanting to want it like he did. "My daughter has grown very fond of you." I've grown very fond of you she things to herself but she wasn't about to say it, "You don't need to go off getting yourself killed okay?" She asks and Daryl licks his lip, giving a small painful shrug.

"I'll do what I can." He mummers and Rose sighs before letting go of his hand.

"I'm going to go put Jamie to bed; I'll see you in the morning." She says quietly and leans forward pressing a kiss to the side of his mouth without thinking. "Night." She murmurs and pulls back giving him one last small smile before leaving him alone.


	6. Pretty Much Dead Already

*_I just want to thank everyone who's been reading and reviewing the story, I'm so glad so many people seem to like it! I just saw episode 2x12 and I have to say I'm really excited to be able to write it into this story, but right now we're on 2x07. I hope you all enjoy this chapter and don't forget to let me know what you think! -M_

A few days had passed since Daryl was shot and he was back on his feet, still sore but capable of moving around. Rose refused to let him go off searching for Sophia alone and though it annoyed him he liked it…he liked that she seemed to care about him so much.

He was watching Jamie for Rose while she was off doing something he wasn't sure of. He lay in his cot, reading the book Andrea had given him the day before, Jamie sitting on the floor with crayons, drawing him another picture.

"Do you like squirrels Mr. Daryl?" Jamie asks and he looks away from his book giving her a shrug.

"Sure, they don't taste as good as rabbit but they're better than 'possum." He teases and Jamie's jaw drops before she frowns.

"I didn't mean to eat." She says pouting still and looks down at her drawing of Daryl and a squirrel; Daryl smiles shaking his head before sitting up, looking down at her drawing.

"I love squirrels." He says and takes the drawing from her, "This is going with the rest." He says and she smiles watching as he set it in the stack of drawings that had formed over time. "Come one kid; let's go find your mom." Daryl says standing and pushing her out of the tent in front of him, her giggling the whole time as she kept her legs stiff not moving.

"Fine, if you're going to play this game I'm gonna hafta carry you." He says and picks her up, tossing her over his shoulder and she laughs, her little fists hitting his back as he marched towards the group, spinning around a few times to make her dizzy.

Daryl normally wouldn't do this, watch over someone's kid; take care of her like she was his own. He normally kept to himself even after being with this group for so long be he could quite seem to be rude enough to Jamie and Rose to shoo them off. He cared about Sophia, and he was dead set on finding her but he never paid her much attention like he did with Jamie. He knew if Merle were here he'd never hear the end of it.

'Can't believe you're letting that hot piece of ass and her kid turn you soft, you're not even fucking the woman' He could hear Merle now, all the obscene comments he'd make and he shakes his head seeing Glenn walking towards them.

"You seen Rose?" He asks setting Jamie down to the ground now, keeping a hand on her shoulder as she swayed. Glenn nods towards the camp, "She's been helping Carol with breakfast." Glenn says before heading towards Dale who was walking over to everyone. Daryl looks at the two strangely as they exchanged whispers then pushes Jamie along in front of him. He spots Rose passing out eggs to everyone, and he sits down in a lawn chair, Jamie walking over to her mother and demanding for food, Rose giving her that 'mom' look, making Jamie ask nicely before she smiled.

"Go get a plate for you and Mr. Daryl." Rose says pointing over to where Carol was, and Jamie skipped over to her. "So you tired of my daughter yet?" Rose asks as she dishes out some eggs for T-Dog and Daryl chuckles.

"Not yet, but I've gotten at least a dozen pictures of me done in crayons." He says making Rose laugh; Jamie marching over with the plates and he takes one from her, watching as she flops down on the ground beside him, raising her plate above her head and asking for food again.

"That's your good dress Jamie, go sit by Carl at the table." Rose says pointing over at Carl and Jamie pouted, "Now." Rose says again and Jamie huffs as she stands, Rose giving her some eggs before she walks over to Carl.

"You're worried about her dress getting dirty when we live in the woods?" Daryl laughs as she gives him eggs and she rolls her eyes at him.

"Yes, because the dirtier it is, the longer I have to scrub my fingers raw and we do not live in the woods, we live on a farm." She says before turning and walked over to where all the plates were, and fixed herself a plate going back over to Daryl, sitting beside him on one of the larger tree stumps.

Rose had become close to everyone in the group, she spent most of her time with Dale and Glenn when she wasn't with Daryl. Jamie had grown very close to Dale and insisted on calling him grandpa, but Dale didn't seem to mind. Jamie had won all the group member hearts quickly; even Shane couldn't help but smile whenever she was near. Rose was glad she had found the group, and became so close with them. She ate quietly, listening to the others joke and laugh, Carol walking around to dish out seconds which Daryl asked for, and Glenn walked over with Dale; the two both looking nervous. Rose couldn't believe what came out of Glenn's mouth next…Walkers were in the barn, it was so close to where her and Jamie slept at night, where Jamie played and Rose knew that she had to get off this land, even if it meant abandoning people she'd grown to love.

Rose stood up setting her plate down and walked over to Jamie as everyone started to head towards the barn, Daryl walking a little slower than the rest to keep an eye on the two. He saw Rose whispering something to Jamie, and shushing her went she tried to argue tears forming in her eyes.

"Rose" Daryl called out now catching her attention and Jamie pulled from her mother and ran over to him, wrapping her arms around his legs.

"Tell mommy it's okay to stay here, please Mr. Daryl." She cried against his legs as Rose sighs heading towards them.

"Don't say a word." She mutters to Daryl and pulls Jamie away from him, taking her hand, heading towards the barn with the others.

Rose was standing outside the RV, speaking with Dale about the situation in the barn what he thought we should do, Jamie asleep inside the RV where she always took her afternoon naps. She had gotten her pistol from the gun bag where all the weapons were being kept, wanting it so she could feel safe again.

"We have to respect Hershel's wishes." Dale said and Rose scoffed shaking her head.

"The man is deluded Dale, we can't stay here when there's a barn full of walkers. If that's what this group decides to do then Jamie and I are leaving." She says quietly, looking down at her feet now as Dale frowns. She knew the group needed her, she was their only medical asset next to Hershel, and he had just been a veterinarian, she had a medical degree. "I need to go for a walk, keep an eye on Jamie for me please?" She asks and Dale nods watching as she stuck her gun into her belt, walking away towards the stables.

Rose could hear Daryl and Carol arguing inside the stables about Sophia, and she didn't dare enter but Daryl came storming out, almost running into her as he turned and headed for the woods.

"You shouldn't have called her that," Rose said as he looked down at her and he glared.

"Mind your own damn business." He spat out and pushing past her making her stumble some as he walked away and she followed right after him.

"She just cares about you." Rose said, keeping up with his pace easily. "You shouldn't be such a prick to people who care, even if she was saying stupid things." She could tell it pissed him off and he stopped, making her run into his back before he turned around.

"What's it matter to you?" He growled out, not wanting to deal with it. "You fucking leaving anyways, you're going to go off and get yourself killed, Jamie too." He says shaking his head, fuming now. He didn't want her to leave; he wanted her to stay with the group, with him.

"I was doing just fine on my own." She says trying to defend her and Daryl let out a humorless laugh.

"Did you not see all those walkers around your car? If you had stayed there you would have died, you and Jamie both." He says shaking his head. "You go off though, go ahead I don't care you're just some dumb bitch with a kid."

"Screw you Daryl." She shoves past him feeling angry tears forming in her eyes as she heads deeper into the woods hearing him call after her before he finally gave up, cursing to himself and heads back towards camp.

Rose wasn't sure had long she had been out, but it had to have been an hour or so and she had traveled pretty far into the woods. She wasn't sure what she wanted to do, she knew that she thought she should leave to protect her and Jamie. But what Daryl had said was right; Jamie would have been dead if it wasn't for Daryl coming to save them. She stops when the ground underneath her seemed to come to an end and she looked down, seeing the drop off, it had to be at least an eight or ten foot fall.

"How the hell did I get up here?" Rose asks herself out loud seeing the farm in the distance, she shakes her head and goes to turn letting out a scream as a walker lunged at her both falling over the edge. She landed on her ankle, hearing a loud crack and letting out a scream from the pain that rushed up her leg, the walker slowly getting up, it's arm twisted in a grisly position. Rose gripped the dirt wall beside her, the dirt crumbling in her fingers as she scrambled to get up, wincing at the pain when she touch her foot to the ground, trying keep it elevated as much as possible while she reached for the gun in the back of her pants her heart dropping when it wasn't there, it must have fallen out when she fell. She let out a small cry as she moved backwards, trying to get away from the walker, pulling out her hunting knife the walker making its way towards her, letting out noises that made her tremble. She hears another blood curdling moan and looks to her left another walker coming towards her faster than the one that was in front of her and she whimpered knowing she wasn't going to make this out without a bite. But she bit her lip and lunged towards the walker, putting pressure on her foot hearing another crack and letting out another loud cry from the pain as she stabbed the walker in the forehead, falling down with it. She rolled off it quickly trying to get her knife from its skull but the other walker had already fallen to the ground beside her, its mouth dripping with blood and she tried fighting it off, screaming out for help.

Daryl had brought Carol to where he found the Cherokee roses, trying to reassure her that he'd find Sophia when he heard the screams. It was Rose, that much he was positive of and he told Carol to run back to camp to get help as he ran towards the screams.

"Rose! Rose!" He shouted, crossbow drawn as he ran through the woods, following the trail she had made until he saw her, one dead walker to the right of her and another one clawing at her; her trying to keep him off while reaching for the knife that was lodged in between the other's head. Daryl took aim and fired the walker going still and falling on her.

"Rose!" He said running over to her side kneeling beside her, his eyes scanning her body for bites, "Did you get bit? Are you okay?" He asked gripping her forearms to help her up, her crying out when she put weight on her leg.

"No I'm fucking not okay!" She said through clinched teeth, "I broke my ankle, that bastard came out of nowhere made me fall down from there." She says pointing over to the small cliff, watching as he pulled the arrow from the walker's head, and her knife from the other. She let out a cry when he picked her up, a hand around her waist and another under her legs.

"You're an idiot for coming out here alone." He says shaking his head before heading towards the camp, hearing Rick's shouts in the distance.

"Shut up, you let me walk away." She says looking away from him her arm around his neck as he carried her to the camp, and she sees everyone running to them.

"What happened? Was she bit?" Rick asks lowering his gun as Daryl shakes her head.

"She's broke her ankle." Daryl said heading straight for Hershel's farm seeing Jamie sitting on the front porch with Carl.

"Mommy! What's wrong? What happened?" Jamie shouted running over to Daryl, and Rose let out a whimper from the pain when he walked up the steps, burying her face into his neck, Hershel meeting them and leading them to his bedroom. He set her down in the bed, listening as Hershel told him to move the pillows, hearing the sound of ripping jeans as he cut open the pants leg.

"These were my favorite pair." Daryl looks down at Rose as she pouted about her pants, which made him roll his eyes smiling a little.

"You've broken your ankle." He says, Rose shouting out that she knew that already. Daryl looks down at her leg, grimacing at the site of the bone sticking out of her skin, her ankle bloody. Rose winces and cried when Hershel touched it, "We're going to have to pop it back in place." He says and Rose knew that was coming she looked at Daryl as he sat beside her gripping her arms as Hershel tells him to hold her down and she grips his forearm, preparing herself for the pain she was about to endure.

Her grip on his arm tightened as she let out a cry of pain, her nails digging into his skin, shooting up some but Daryl was stronger and was able to keep her down, a few tears slipping down her cheeks now as she laid back down looking up at him with cloudy eyes, his voice a distant echo as she drifted off from the pain.

Daryl sat at Rose's bed side, his leg bouncing up and down nervously, his lips pressed against his intertwined fingers as she waited for her to wake, she'd been out for an hour now, and it was nearly noon. He glances over at Jamie who sat at the window seat, pushing a toy car along the window pane as she waited for her momma to wake up, her eyes still red and puffy from all the crying she had done.

Hershel said that she was going to be fine, she hadn't lost much blood and they were able to reset her ankle, but she'd have to stay off of it for some time. She had passed out from the pain, and he remembered that look in her eyes, he didn't like it seeing her in pain like that, seeing her lying in this bed motionless. He cared too much already, and he hated it. He heard Rose let out a noise and he looked over at her as her eyelids flickered open, calling out to Jamie who's head perked up before she ran over to the bed.

"Momma," She says climbing into the bed next to her pressing wrapping her arms around her mother's shoulders. "Why did you go into the woods? There were walkers, you're so stupid momma." She scowled her mother and Rose gave her a weak smile running her fingers through her daughter's blonde curls.

"I'm sorry baby." She says softly, sitting up in the bed wincing as she did and Daryl stood, grabbing a few of the pillows that were on the floor and set them behind her.

"You really are stupid, Jamie's right." Daryl says and Rose looks over at him shaking her head.

"Don't start with me Daryl, you did the same thing and then got shot." She murmurs leaning her head back against the backboard, her ankle still hurt badly.

"Yes, but I left to go find Sophia." He mutters with a shrug earning a glare from Rose. "Jamie can I talk to your momma for a sec?" Daryl asks glancing down at Jamie expectantly, and she bit sighed, pressing her lips to her mom's cheek then hopped off the bed.

"I'm going to go play with Carl." She says and heads out of the room, leaving Rose alone with Daryl.

Rose glances over at Daryl again as he walked around to the other side of the bed, handing her the glass of water and some pills.

"Hershel says you'll need to stay off your feet awhile." He says watching as she took the pills, taking a drink from the water before setting it back down on the night stand. "I'm sorry 'bout calling what I said." Daryl says catching her attention now. "I didn't mean it…I was just pissed off." He says and Rose bites her lip, and pats the bed beside her, asking him to sit which he does slowly.

"Daryl," She trails off as he meets her eyes waiting for her to speak. "You've saved me twice now." She says sitting up some more, wincing as she did so. "I care about you." She says her voice shaky as she tries to get comfortable and Daryl looks at her not sure what to say. "If you…If you want Jamie and I to stay we will, Jamie loves you and she'd hate me if we left." She says and Daryl looks at her.

"It's not safe alone," Daryl says and Rose bites back a smile, "You go out there and you're as good as dead, so yeah…you should stay with the group." He says with a nod and Rose smiles a little, nodding too.

"Then I'll stay with the group." She says and sighs, leaning back against the bed. Daryl looks at her, watching as she closed her eyes, she had a small bruise on her cheek and a cut on her lip. He shakes his head and stands up making her look up at him again.

"I've got to go check with Rick about the barn." He says quietly and she nods slowly, wishing she could be out there helping. Daryl stares at her for a moment, thinking back to when she kissed him when he was in her place in that bed. He licks his bottom lip before leaning down, resting a hand beside her on the bed and pressed a kiss to her lips, waiting there for a moment before she kissed him back and he pulled away. "I'll see you later." He says looking down at her as her cheeks reddened then walked out the room.

Hershel had supplied Rose with a sufficient amount of pain killers and a pair of crutches for her to get around in a few hours after Daryl's kiss. She sat on the farm house's porch, wearing a new set of clean clothes, looking down at her bandaged ankle. She turns at the sound of Shane seeing him passing out guns to everyone talking about killing the walkers in the barn and Daryl takes a rifle from him, everyone but Hershel's family taking a gun, determined to protect themselves. Lori and Carl were the only ones that stood with the Greenes and Lori started to argue with Shane before T-Dog interrupted them with an 'Oh Shit'. Rose stood up now as she sees Rick coming out of the woods with a walker; everyone rushed towards the scene and Rose told Jamie to stay on the porch as she made her way towards the group hating the fact she had the stupid crutches holding her back.

Shane started going on about the walkers everyone in the group who had a gun had it pointed at the two walkers Hershel and Rick were leading towards the barn and Rose stood there baffled by the scene, hearing Jamie let out a whimper and she turns to see her pulling her close to her as Shane fired onto the walker Hershel had before turning to the barn and broke open the door, all the walkers coming out and everything went from bad to worse.

Rose held Jamie to her, keeping her eyes turned from the scene as all the walkers went down one by one until everyone thought it was over. But Rose sees another walker coming out, a young girl maybe only a few years older than Jamie and tears filled her eyes when she head Carol scream. It was her daughter Sophia, and Rose's heart ached watching as Daryl kept Carol from running to Sophia, the girl, no, the walker making its way towards Rick as he stepped forward, raising his pistol to the Sophia's head and fired. Rose's eyes went straight to Daryl watching as he slowly let go of Carol, the look on his face breaking her heart even more. He stands up ignoring the group as he starts to walk away heading towards Rose and she reaches out to him but he dodges her hand, storming away towards his camp, ignoring Jamie calling out to him.


	7. Flights, Fights, and Fevers

*_So this chapter is kind of a filler chapter, I'm sorry it took so long! I promise to have the chapter up a lot quicker! Thank you all for reading and reviewing! Happy St. Patty's Day!_

The camp was quiet, no laughing, no talking; it was just an eerie silence while everyone mourned the founding and loss of Sophia. Carol did not leave the RV that day, not even to attend Sophia's funeral. Rose had tried to speak with Daryl at the funeral, her and Jamie standing close to him instead of with the group, but when she approached him he brushed her off, said he wanted left alone. Rose didn't push any further, she knew he cared for the girl. Hershel had gone missing and Maggie was frantic needing to find him because Beth was in some type of catatonic shock and Rose had done all she could, hooked up an IV for her, tried communicating with her but she wasn't responding to her. So Rick and Glenn left to find him despite Lori's protests. When Rose went back to her tent she found that Daryl's was gone, and was told by Dale that he secluded himself a good ways away from the camp, a walk that she planned on making later.

Rose couldn't take it anymore; she was going insane with the silence. She never liked it, not as a kid, not as a teenager and not now. Jamie had been crying most of the day, and on top of that she was getting sick again. Jamie had a very weak immune system, and was prone to catching viruses left and right. It had been manageable when Rose was able to get her all the medicine she needed, but now she was running low, but luckily Jamie hadn't struck up a fever yet.

Rose sighs to herself glancing down at the book in her hands that she had been trying to read, but ended up absent mindedly turning the pages instead, her eyes moving to Dale as he walked over to Jamie, knelling down beside her and she looked up at him as he handed her a book.

"You think you'd be able to read this?" Dale asks and Jamie takes it from him, looking down at the cover of the book her fingers tracing over the gold letters as she tries to sound out the words, turning her head and coughing some more. She looks back at the book now, and sounds the words out, Rose smiling when her R's came out wrong.

"Book of Fairy Tales?" Jamie asks looking up at Dale Rose smiling glad that the reading lessons Rose and Jamie had been working.

"Yes, I thought you'd like it, it has mermaids, princesses, fairies, everything you'd love." He says making Jamie smile and reach up to hug him.

"Thank you grandpa." She says pressing her lips to his cheek, and Rose was glad to see Jamie cheering up some. Dale stands back up, ruffling her hair as she tries to read the book out loud stuttering over some words, but doing fairly good under the circumstances. Dale heads over and sits down beside Rose, staying quiet for a moment.

"How's your ankle?" He asks now, breaking the silence and she looks down at her bandaged foot, giving him a shrug.

"S'fine, sore, can't walk on it." She says sighing running a hand through her hair, "I feel useless." She says shaking her head, listening to Jamie as she tried to read Snow White.

"You're not useless Rose," Dale said shaking his head. "You did all you could to help Beth, this group needs you." He says patting her hand gently and she sighs nodding. She knew that already, but she couldn't help the feeling of uselessness. If walkers were to find this place she'd have to rely on someone to help her get away fast enough, someone to get Jamie out of the danger. She hated relying on people.

Rose didn't say anything more, she just leaned her head against Dale's shoulder, giving him a silent thank you before standing up slowly, Dale helping her to her feet.

"Mind keeping an eye on her for me?" She says asks quietly glancing over at Jamie, whom was still reading out loud to herself struggling over a few words, "I'm gonna go down by the pond, clean up a little." She says and Dale nods, heading over to sit by Jamie.

Rose grumbled to herself as she used her crutches to get to the water, still hating the damned things, hating the whole situation she was in. She stopped as she saw where Daryl was camping out, and decided to head that way, the trip longer, more exhausting but she needed to talk to him. As she approached his new camp ground she made a face, seeing the animal skins hanging up on a string, his necklace of walker ears beside it and she chuckles shaking her head as she turns, startled to see him standing right by her.

"Like your décor." She teases glancing back at the ears and he just looks down at her not even cracking a smile, his eyes burning into hers.

"What do you want?" He asks dropping her gaze now as he looks out towards the barn, anywhere other than her face.

Rose looks up at him frowning, thinking back to the kiss they shared the day before. "I wanted to see you." She says and he turns to look at her again, "Why'd you leave?" She asks with a shrug watching as he turned back to look at her. "Jamie's been looking for you all day, says you promised to teach her about bird calls or something like that."

Daryl looks down at Rose, seeing how angry she seemed, how hurt. But right now he didn't care; he was done trying to be part of the group, done looking for people, done loosing people. So he just shook his head. "She ain't my kid, she ain't my problem. I don't need to teach her shit. That's your job." He says and takes a step back, "You two just leave me alone, all of y'all. Just hobble back to your kid and stay away from me." He says and turns his back to her walking over to his tent, not daring to look over his shoulder to see how angry she got, how hurt she was from his words.

"You kissed me Daryl." She yelled at him, making him stop in his tracks turning slowly, "You kissed me…I thought." She trailed over as he stormed.

"You thought what? What you think?" He snaps at her, doing his best to push her away. "You think that you and me could have some happy ending? That I could fill that empty void that girl's daddy left?" He says Rose's jaw tightening now, "I ain't your boyfriend, and I sure as hell ain't that little girl's daddy now leave me the hell alone."

Rose glares up at him, and takes her crutch and hits him in the sheen as hard as she can with it before walking away, hearing him curse and shout out her as she 'hobbled' back to her little girl.

Rose checking Beth's vitals, Rick, Glenn and Hershel still not back and now Lori had gone missing. It was just one of those days, again. Rose sighs looking down at the girl, her eyes open still staring blankly up at the roof. She wishes she could have helped her more, but she wasn't responding to anything Rose was doing, and Hershel was the only one that could get her out of this state. Rose looks towards the doorway as Andrea walks in looking a little worried.

"What's wrong?" She asks limping over to her with her crutches.

"It's Jamie," She says and Rose raises an eyebrow now, "She's been coughing a lot, and she just got sick." She says and Rose frowns nodding.

"Can you keep an eye on Beth for me?" She asks quietly and Andrea nods, letting Rose passed her. Rose saw Jamie lying on Hershel's couch, Carl sitting in the arm chair across from her, his eyes red rimmed, but was reading her the story book Dale had given her. Rose sits down beside Jamie, her crutches leaning on the couch beside her as she reached over to feel Jamie's forehead.

"Baby you're burning up." She says and sighs; reaching into her bag for some of the children's Tylenol she had, frowning when she opened it and saw there were only a few left. "Here, take these." She says handing her two of them, helping her sit up some so she could chew the pills.

"Mommy I don't feel good."

Rose nods pressing her lips to Jamie's hair, pulling her so her head rested in her lap, running her fingers through her hair. "I know baby, just go to sleep, you'll feel better in the morning." She murmurs glancing over at Carl and gestured for him to come over, letting him curl up into her side, knowing he was upset that his parents were missing still.

"Do you think they're okay?" Rose looks down as Carl speaks his voice a little shaky and Rose nods wrapping an arm around his shoulders.

"I'm sure they are," She reassures him rubbing his arm gently, "Your daddy's a brave man, strong too. He's probably just held up somewhere till mornin', and Shane's going to find you mom." She says and she meant it, as much as she disliked Shane she was sure he'd be able to get Lori back here, and Rick had proven himself to be perfectly capable of taking care of himself and the group. Her little speech to Carl was timed perfectly because a few minutes later the sound of tires made Carl jump up from the couch, and he ran out the door.

Rose sighs, and listens quietly as the drama unfold outside, not bothering to get up. She was too tired to move, and she didn't want to leave Jamie alone in the house, her girl now sleeping in her lap. She glanced up at the door as Lori stormed in with Andrea after Shane had announced to everyone she was pregnant, that much Rose had guessed already when she caught Glenn whispering things about it to her a few days ago.

Lori sat down beside her on the couch, asking about Jamie, Rose explaining quickly that she had a fever, and that she should be better soon watching as Patricia cleaned up Lori's cuts listening to Lori explain to everyone what had happened, her eyes moving to the front door as Daryl slipped in.

Rose watched as his eyes moved from her to Lori and then down at Jamie in her lap, actually seeming a little concerned. Shane then came in, and demanded to speak with Lori alone; asking everyone to leave in which Rose only sat there and bluntly told him if he wanted to talk to her he had to take her someplace else because Rose was not moving from her spot with Jamie. Shane glared, before doing as Rose said, Lori following after him slowly, closing the door behind them.

"What's wrong with her?" Rose looks up at Daryl as he walks over to her, standing beside the couch looking down at Jamie as she let out a small whimper, Rose's hand going to her forehead again.

"She has a fever." Rose says running her fingers through Jamie's hair, "I gave her some medicine to try and get rid of the fever, but her immune system is shit, it could come back." She says and sighs, "Could you help me carry her to the tent Daryl?" She asks looking up at him, not wanting to ask for help but everyone else was busy, and she couldn't do it herself.

Daryl looks down at Rose and the little girl, nodding once before picking Jamie up gently trying not to wake her, his hand going to her back as she wrapped her arms around his neck, murmuring something in her sleep. Daryl makes a face as he feels how hot she, looking down at Rose as she stands up getting her crutches.

"She get sick a lot?" He asks reaching out to steady her as she stands up, gripping her crutches for support. She nods, not saying anything to him as she heads out the house, glancing back at him and Jamie every now and again as they made their way to her tent. She was still pissed at what he had said earlier, and even if he hadn't meant it she was still pissed none the less.

"Why?" He asks trying to get her to speak and she only shrugs, not answering his question. "I could have something to help her…Merle had a lot of pills." He trails off as he hears her let out a chuckle.

"I doubt your brother's drug habits could help my daughter Daryl." She says with a headshake stopping in front of her tent, unzipping it quickly before making her way in sitting down on her bed. She kicks her shoes off as Daryl walks in, pulling back the covers of Jamie's bed, and lays her down in it covering her up before turning to Rose watching as she leaned her crutches against the trunk in front of her bed.

"You can leave now." She mutters running a hand through her hair as she looked up at him and he bites his lip.

"I wanted to talk to you." He says and she groans lying back in bed, covering her eyes with her arm.

"I swear to god Dixon if you're here to apologize you can just shove it up your ass." She says with an eye roll moving her arm to look at him, "You yell at me, call me names and now you're sucking up and trying to apologize. You're hard to keep up with and you're a little bit like a girl." She says shaking her head and he stops himself from snapping at her again, swallowing his pride.

"I'm sorry 'bout what I said." He says shaking his head, "I don't mean it." He says and Rose rolls her eyes, turning to her side.

"Whatever Daryl," She mutters, yawning now as she pulled her covers over her, listening to Daryl shuffle around her tent, before she drifted off.

Jamie had woken up some time during their walk to the tent, and listened to the whole conversation. She could tell her mom was asleep and she opened her eyes sitting up some. "Why does my mommy hate you so much?" She ask Daryl turning around now, looking down at her in the dark before shrugging walking over to her. He leaned down and picked up the tattered stuffed rabbit she always carried around, and set it beside her on the bed, before sitting down himself.

He shrugs pulling the covers a bit higher on her placing his hand on her forehead to check her fever, glad she seemed to be cooling down now. "Dunno kid," He says looking down at her as she rubs her eyes sleepily, "She prolly just got bit by that bitchy bug going around." He says, Jamie staring up at him confused before she giggles pulling her rabbit into her side.

"I like you Mr. Daryl," She says yawning some, "You saved my mommy, and you saved me. I think she likes you too." She says and giggles again, "She just needs to get rid of her bitchy bug." She whispers giggling when Daryl laughs shaking his head.

"You should say things I say, you'd get in trouble with your momma." He says brushing her hair from her face before standing, "Go to sleep Jamie, you need to be better my mornin' so I can teach you those bird calls." He says which makes her smile waving at him before he left the tent, zipping it up after him leaving the two girls alone to sleep.

Daryl head back to his camp, running his hands down his face and sighs. He'd tried to push them away, but he couldn't help but feel guilty about those things he said to Rose. He cared about them, he cared about everyone in this group and he planned on keeping them sage.


	8. Fairy Tales

*_Here's the new chapter everyone! I hope you all enjoy it! DID YOU GUYS WATCH LAST NIGHT'S EPISPODE? IT WAS SO AMAZING AND I'VE ALREADY WRITTEN OUT PARTS FOR THE CHAPTER! Don't forget to review and thank you for reading! I love you all!_

Rose hadn't slept so soundly in a very long time. When she woke up the next morning she could hear Jamie reading to someone in the bed next to her, and she opened her eyes slowly seeing Jamie sitting on her bed, that book of fairytales in her lap with Daryl next to her, flipping the pages for her and listening to her read. Rose couldn't help but smile at the site, it was something rare, something adorable and she wished she had a camera to take a picture of the moment. Rose lets out a yawn the two turning to look at her as she rolled onto her stomach, stretching out like a cat until her ankle is stretched to far and she lets out a whimper sitting up to look at her bandages and sighs.

"Great," She mutters to herself peeling her covers away from her leg to see her bloodied bandages, Daryl standing up now to take a look at them.

"Looks like they need changed," He says Rose looking up at him with the 'no duh' face before she swings her feet over the side. "Hershel's back, but I can do it; he's a bit busy with his girl." Daryl says now scratching the back of his neck as Rose looks up at him.

"Is everyone back okay?" She asks watching as he sat beside her on the cot, Jamie walking over to him with the first aid kit Rose kept in the tent, Daryl taking it from her as he adjusts Rose's leg so he can get the bandages off.

"Yeah, they brought a kid with them." Daryl says glancing up at her as she let out a whimper when he touched a sore spot on her ankle, "Sorry."

Rose sits up a little, resting against her hands as she watches Daryl carefully unwrap her bandages, taking his time to inspect her wound, "Looks like it's better." She smiles a little when he says it, and then goes to cleaning it, which stung a little but his touch was gentle, and really all she could focus on was the warmth of his hands. Wait, she was mad at him, she had forgotten that.

"I still think you're a prick." She said turning to look at Jamie as she let out a groan. "What?" She asks her daughter and Jamie only rolled her eyes at her mom before closing her book.

"You need to get rid of your bitchy bug mommy." She says Rose's jaw dropping as Daryl tries to hold back his laughs, wrapping her ankle up a little faster now.

"Jamie Marie Waters what did you just say?" Rose shouts, Jamie only shrugging. "Don't let me ever hear you using such language ever again do you understand me?" Rose asks and Jamie nods hopping off her bed.

"Mr. Daryl said it last night." She mutters before walking out of the tent, Rose turning to Daryl now as he finishes her bandages.

"Great, teaching my daughter profanity how kind of you." She snaps pulling her leg back now and Daryl only shakes his head standing back up.

"Says the woman who cusses up a storm." He mutters earning a glare from Rose as she huffs, reaching towards the suitcase on her floor and pulls out some clothes, changing into them while his back is to her.

"Who's the kid they brought?" Rose asks now, Daryl turning around just in time to get sight of another tattoo, this one on Rose's hip. He cleared his throat passing her crutches to her when she searched for them, and gave her a hand with standing.

"Kid's name is Randal, his group abandoned him for the walkers, he got his legged fucked pretty bad so they brought him back here to fix'im up." Daryl says heading out her tent now, holding the flap open for her.

"I swear Rick's too good of a man sometimes." Rose says shaking her head, testing out the weight on her foot, sighing when it was still too sore to walk on. "Where are they keeping him?" She asks looking over at Daryl and he points towards the shed.

"He's locked in there, knocked out from some leg wound he got." He says walking alongside her as she headed towards the farm house where Jamie sat on the porch steps. Jamie looked up at her mother and Daryl as they passed her Daryl leaning down to ruffle her hair before following Rose inside where the group was holding a meeting. Rose stood beside Daryl near the door, Jamie walking in and running over to her side, burying her face into her mother's leg as they listened to them discuss what they were going to do with the boy. Shane of course wanting to kill him, while Rick wanted to drive him out far from camp once his leg was healed enough for him to walk on it so he could just make it back to his group. Rose bite her tongue when Shane started going off again, using sarcasm to just piss everyone off until Hershel finally snapped at him about happened in his barn, and that the only reason he was still on his farm was because Rick had convinced him to Shane stay. Rose rolled her eyes at Shane's childish behaviors as he stormed out, leaving the front door to swing shut itself, everyone else filing out once Rick tells them they weren't going to do anything about it that day.

"C'mon babe," Rose says leading Jamie out of the farm, Daryl following in toe. "You going to follow us around like a lost puppy dog all day Dixon?" Rose asks glancing back at him as she headed towards the camp and Daryl shrugged.

"Maybe," He said looking over at her as he walked beside her now, "Someone's got to make sure you don't go running off into the woods again like a idiot." He says and Rose rolls her eyes at him.

"Again, I would have been perfectly fine if that walker hadn't snuck up on me." She states walking over to the camp fire where Lori was, letting Jamie run off to talk to her.

"How exactly does a walker sneak up on you, I mean unless you're deaf or somethin' you should have heard it. It's not like they're quiet or anything." Daryl says with a shrug of his shoulders Rose glaring at him.

"Well this one was quiet, and it pushed me off a cliff, hence the broken ankle." She says holding her leg out Daryl smiling a little and shook his head.

"You're stubborn, and really annoying." He says sitting down in a lawn chair in front of her and she lets out a huff.

"And you're insufferable and a prick." She said with a fake smile before turning away from him and heading towards Lori, who had been watching the whole scene with interest.

Lori smirked a little as Rose sat down beside her muttering things under her breath as she pulled Jamie to her, absent mindedly braiding her daughter's hair.

"So Rose," Lori started catching the greened eyed girl's attention, "Something happened between you and Daryl?" She asks raising an eyebrow smiling a little when Rose's face flushed and she shook her head, Jamie furrowing her eyebrows as she turned her head to look at her mom.

"I have no idea what you are talking about." Rose says quickly shaking her head, making Jamie look back towards Daryl as she continued to braid her hair.

"Mhm, if you say so but those looks he's sending your way and your strange behavior state otherwise." Lori says making Rose groan shaking her head.

"I cannot stand Daryl and you are out of your mind for thinking something is going on between us. He's absolutely unbearable." Rose says with a nod, glancing over at him, to see him staring and she turned her eyes back down to Jamie's blonde curls.

"I like Daryl," Jamie quirked looking over at Lori as she smiled, "He's funny, and he teaches me about the woods." She says and pulls away once her mother has done braiding her hair. "He said mommy had a bit-"She trialed off when her mother sent her a look, covering her mouth with her hands as she giggled.

"Go play with Carl Jamie." Rose sighed pointing over to where Carl was, and Jamie nodded pressing a kiss to her mom's cheek and skipped off. Rose sighs and leans back stretching her legs out in front of her as she looked up at the sky, shivering a little.

"It's starting to get cold," She murmurs turning to look at Lori as she nods. "What do you guys plan on doing when it's winter?" She asks raising an eyebrow and Lori bit her lip shaking her head slowly.

"Rick's going to talk to Hershel about moving into the barn or maybe the house…But he doesn't want to impose any more than we already have." She says and Rose nods picking at the lose strings on her shirt.

"I think maybe we should find a new place." She says catching Daryl's attention, "Some place more secure, with more supplies, maybe like a mall or something big like that." She says and Lori chuckles shaking her head.

"This isn't a movie Rose," She says making Rose sigh, "Imagine all the walkers that would be at a mall, or any place out in the public like that. Your heart is in the right place but it's just not plausible." Lori says putting a hand on Rose's shoulder and she shrugs.

"Yeah I guess you're right." Rose mutters looking over to Jamie when she hears her cough and frowns, "She doesn't have a fever anymore but that cough just won't go away." Rose shakes her sighing a little as Lori gives her shoulder a reassuring squeeze, the two women watching as Daryl stood and made his way towards Jamie, pulling something out of his pocket and knelt down in front of her, handing it to her.

"What are you giving my daughter?" Rose asks going to stand Lori standing to help her, as Daryl rolls his eyes muttering something to Jamie that made her giggle.

"It's just a cough drop Rosie." He says standing back up once Jamie popped it into her mouth walking over to her to hand Rose the wrapper so she'd calm down, "See?" He says handing her the wrapper and Rose sighs.

"Right, sorry." She says looking up at him, "I told you not to call me that." She says and Daryl smirks giving her a shrug.

"Right, forgot about that Rosie." He says and Rose narrows her eyes, and pushes past him. "I'm going to go talk to Daryl about these stupid crutches." She grumbles, heading towards the farmhouse Jamie following after her when she waved for her to follow.

"I think he wanted to kiss you," Jamie says happily looking up at her mom as Rose chuckled shaking her head.

"That's not going to happen Jamie." She says resting her hand on top of Jamie's head as she pouted, "I don't kiss boys anyways, they're icky." She throws in trying to get the smile back on her daughter's face, but Jamie only sighs and runs ahead of her into the house, Rose frowning as she followed after her.

A week had passed and the kid Randal had woken up, disoriented, confused, and scared shitless. Rick kept him chained up in the shed, and had guards posted outside of it that would switch off every hour. It was now around midnight and Rose was on guard, crutch less. She'd been able to walk on her ankle for a few days now but just not at the speed she was used to and with a slight limp. She leaned against the door, shotgun in hand, listening to Randal beg her to let him out from inside, Luckily for her she was good at tuning things out from being a mother of a six going on seven year old daughter.

"Lady please, I promise I won't tell the group where this farm is. Just let me go please, please." He begged, cried actually and Rose only peeked at him through the crack of the shed, hardly able to see him since it was so dark out.

"Go to sleep kid, this begging isn't going to get you anywhere." She says before leaning back against the shed, taking a sip from her water as she looked around. There hadn't been many walkers in the area lately, something she was thankful for, but she couldn't help but be tensed up being back on her feet, not wanting something like last time to happen again. Rose raises her shotgun at the sound of shuffling leaves and she relaxes when she sees it's just Daryl walking over with his crossbow.

"Scared?" He questions smiling a little and she rolls her eyes at him as he makes his way over to her.

"No, just on alert; Jamie asleep?" She asks and Daryl nods looking towards the shed as Randal starts to beg for them to let him go, "He never shuts up, he needs to be muzzled." She says shifting her wait to her good foot as Daryl nods.

"He'll be gone soon so it don't matter." Daryl says and nods towards the camp, "You're off duty, go catch some shut eye." He says pulling out a cigarette and Rose makes a face.

"You got another one of those?" Rose asks smiling when Daryl nods and pulls out a pack of cigarette, "Where are you getting these?" She asks taking the cigarette as he hands it to him, leaning towards him so he could light it before he pocketed the light.

"Glenn brings 'em back for me." He says the cigarette still in his mouth and she nods, taking a drag and leans against the shed, needing the fix.

"Gotta love Glenn." Rose laughs taking the cigarette from her mouth, blowing out a few smoke rings, turning her head to look at him, catching him staring and she blushes when he doesn't drop her gaze.

"You still pissed at me Rosie?" He asks turning to face her now and she rolls her eyes taking another drag from her cigarette.

"Yes, and your mixed signals are too much for me to handle, and I really don't think fooling around with you Daryl is the best thing." She says with a head shake blowing smoke towards him as cocked his jaw nodding once. Daryl drops his cigarette, putting it out with his foot.

"I have no idea what you're talking about," Daryl stated smiling down at her as she rolls her eyes taking another drag of her cigarette watching as he stepped in front of her.

"You're full of it Daryl," She says dropping her cigarette to the ground, "You're annoying, rude, and a complete ass." She says not moving as he took a step towards her looking down at her as she stares up at him.

"I'm sorry," He says quietly brushing some hair from her face, his other hand going to her waist and leaned down, pressing his lips to hers, kissing her slowly before he pulls back searching her face for some sign of emotion.

Daryl goes to say something, but before he can speak he's cut off by a sting in his cheek and a loud slapping noise that her hand made when she hit him.

"That's for calling me a bitch." She mutters then grips his face pulling his lips back down to hers, kissing him hungrily as he gripped her waist and pushed her against the shed wall. Rose let out a huff when he pushed her against the wall, her arms moving to wrap around his neck as she kissed him back with just as much force, tangling her fingers in his hair.

"Uhh, guys." Rose groaned leaning her head against the shed at the sound of Randal's voice, Daryl's lips trailing down her neck, murmuring to just ignore him against her skin, nipping gently making her shiver.

She shakes her head and pushes against his chest making him pull back, "I need to go be with Jamie." She murmurs and he tilts her chin up to look at him, his thumb brushing against her cheek, "Rain check?" She questions quirking an eyebrow as she smiles.

Daryl sighs and nods, "Yeah okay." He murmurs as Rose pulls him down for another kiss, this one more chaste than their previous kiss.

"I'll see you in the morning Dixon." Rose says smiling up at him before walking away, Daryl smiling to himself as she watched her walk, even with the limp she was still as sexy as when he first saw her, and he knew that he was getting himself into trouble by trying with her.


	9. Judge, Jury, and Executioner

*_This chapter is long! Well relatively long haha So I'm getting close to the end of season two, meaning that I'm going to start writing my own story lines for the group…But I am going to loosely go off what happens in the graphic novel, like finding the prison. So I hope you all like this chapter! It's taking place in episode 11 so fair warning lovies. Thank you all for reading I really appreciate it and I hope you like this chapter! Don't forget to review!_

Daryl and Rose had been in better moods lately, everyone could tell and even though they two tried to hide it as much as possible, everyone was aware that something was going on between them. Rose was lounging in the barn that had been long since cleaned out, no signs of walkers ever been kept in there were noticed, and she sat on one of the hay barrels Jamie sitting in front of her with a chick in her lap.

"Mommy, what was daddy like?" Jamie asked pulling Rose from her thoughts of Daryl and she sighed shaking her head. Jamie had been asking about Ryder a lot lately, and Rose had been answering her questions, thinking it was about time Jamie started learning the truth. She hadn't seen her father since she was young so Rose pulled out her wallet she still carried around and pulled out the only picture she had of Ryder and Jamie, the only time he had ever come to see her.

"He was sweet, funny, and really childish" Rose says smiling a little as she hands Jamie the folded up picture, Jamie taking it and looking at it, memorizing her father's face. "He just wasn't ready to have a family." Rose could tell Jamie was getting upset and she stands up quickly, stretching her arms over her head.

"Time for our work out babe." She says pushing Jamie's head gently to catch her attention and her daughter giggles, shoving the picture into her coat pocket.

"You mean it's time for you to work out mommy." Jamie stated, watching as her mother started to stretch before she dropped to the ground.

"Yeah, Yeah make sure to keep count for me." Rose says, and started to do pushups, keeping her bad ankle off the ground as she counted in her head how many she was doing, faster than the numbers Jamie were saying out loud.

Andrea rounded the corner of the barn, laughing a little at the sight of Rose doing pushups as Jamie counted them out, holding that baby chick in her hands.

"Fifty-five huh?" Andrea asked coming in making Rose let out a sigh as she flopped over, trying to catch her breath. "You could have kept going." She says standing over Rose now, passing her a water bottle, Rose shaking her head.

"Jamie was behind a few, I was at sixty, and my smoky lungs can't handle more than that." She coughs sitting up some to drink the water, Andrea sitting across from her. "Hear anything about Shane and Rick?" Rose breaths out, setting her water bottle down as Andrea nods; Rick and Shane had left to set Randall free since his leg was better now, they'd gone alone and they weren't that well-armed, only their own personal guns to help keep each other safe.

"They're back now, both are pretty beat up." Andrea said, "A heard of walkers showed up, and they couldn't let the kid die so Randall's with them. Oh and apparently he knew Maggie, knew this farm. Daryl's getting some information out of the kid now."

Rose sighed shaking her head, "He's going to kill the kid." She mutters as Andrea stands up and gives her a hand up, "You still owe me a race you know." Rose teased bumping into Andrea playfully as she laughed giving her a nod. Andrea and Rose had agreed to go running with each other, and the two girls had gotten into a debate on who was faster, so they decided to race.

"I know I do, later today I swear." Andrea said smiling as Jamie walked over holding the chick up towards her, "And who's that Jim Jam?" She asks with a smile as Jamie giggled, she had liked the nick name Andrea had given her.

"Her name is Huevo." Jamie chimed as the little chick chirped Andrea smiled.

"Huevo?" She question raising an eyebrow and Jamie nods smiling over at her mom.

"Huevo is egg in Spanish, mommy taught me that." She says happily and Rose smiles ruffling her daughter's hair as Andrea laughed.

"Come one Chicken Little, we need to go put Huevo back in the coop. Then mommy's going to make sure Mr. Daryl isn't killing anyone." She muttered that last part to Andrea who chuckled.

"I can take Jamie for you; you go check on your man." Andrea teased and Rose made a face, trying to hide her blush as she shook her head.

"Daryl's not my man Andrea." She says and Andrea only shrugged before the three parted ways, Jamie and Andrea heading towards the chicken coop, and Rose towards the shed.

Rose ran her fingers through her hair, pulling it back and tying it up into a messy bun, then moved her hands to pull her slim tank top down some slowing her pace when she heard the sound of Randall's cries. She sighs waiting outside the shed before the door opens, Daryl walking out his knuckles bloody making her frown.

"Really?" She asked raising an eyebrow as he shrugged, "Was that necessary?" She asked taking his hand, examining his cuts. "You need to get this cleaned." She mumbled and Daryl rolled his eyes pulling his hands back, and moved to grip her waist pulling her close.

"S'fine Rosie," He says and Rose sighs looking up at him. "You been working out?" He questions as he took in her disheveled appearance and she nods.

"Yup, while you were beating up a kid." She says pressing her lips to his jaw before pulling back. "I'm sure the group would love to hear what you found out." She said watching as Daryl grimaced. "What?" She asked and he shook his head, leaning down to kiss her gently, stroking her cheek.

"The kid's group isn't one we should be messing with." He mumbles and Rose frowns nodding slowly.

"Well come on then, you need to tell Rick." She says moving to start to walk towards the camp, but Daryl gripped her waist from behind pulling her into his chest, his arms wrapping around her middle as he pressed his lips to her shoulder.

They hadn't done much, just a few stolen kisses and the usual flirty banter. But Rose was content with it; she liked him like this, when he wasn't angry and closed off like how he was when she first met him. She leaned her head back against his shoulder as his lips traveled up her neck, leaving a trail of heat as he went, making her shiver a little once his hands moved under her tank top.

"People are going to see." She sighs, moving her hands over top hiss as he hummed against her neck, pulling her a little closer. "Daryl," She breathed out as he nipped at her pulse point before he pulled his hands back, resting them on the small of her back and pushed her forward.

"Get to walking then, and stop trying to get us caught." He teased pressing his lips to her cheek and she laughed shaking her head as the headed towards the camp, walking beside each other now.

"You play dirty Dixon." She says glancing over at him and he smiles shaking his head.

"Never said I didn't." Rose laugh rolling her eyes at him before Jamie spotted the two and ran over, the group was gathered in a circle, everyone turning and looking over at Daryl as he pulled at the strap of his crossbow.

"The boy there got a gang." Daryl starts looking around at everyone as Rose takes Jamie's hand, waking over to sit down, "Thirty men, they have heavy artillery and they ain't lookin' to make friends." Rose bites her lip looking over at Rick as he took in everything Daryl said, "They roll through here and our boys are dead, and our women…They gonna wish they were." He says his eyes moving towards Rose and Jamie, trying not to think about what Randall had told him, how they rapped those girls.

"What did you do?" Rose glances over as Carol spoke, seeing her eye Daryl's hand as he glanced down at it as well giving her a small shrug.

"We had a little chat." He says, looking back over at her before heading over to Rose, Carol turning to walk away as well. Jamie smiles as Daryl sits beside her on the log, taking his hand to look at his knuckles whispering to him as Rick told them that no one was to go near the guy. Rose glanced over at Lori as she asked him the question everyone was thinking, what he was going to do with Randall.

Rose agreed when Rick said they'd have to kill him, he was a threat, and she didn't want him anywhere near her daughter. Dale seemed to be the only one against killing Randall and Rose felt bad, knowing he was the only one who seemed to still have some compassion for Randall, since he was just a kid still. Rose leaned back in the lawn chair as Dale walked after Rick, the group all going back to their chores now.

"Do you think we should kill him?" Rose looked down at Jamie when she asked, looking between Rose and Daryl, Rose biting her lip.

"He's dangerous baby." Rose say frowning and Jamie furrows her eyebrows nodding slowly leaning her head against Daryl's arm. "Maybe Rick will decide to let him go." Rose says quietly to her, brushing her hair from her eyes.

"I think Mr. Rick should listen to Grandpa." Jamie says looking over at her mom as Rose nods, "Grandpa's really smart, he's always right I think." She says and Rose smiles.

"You want to go spend some time with Dale?" Rose asks as she sees Dale heading back to his RV, and Jamie grins nodding her head. "Alright, you go ahead and go bother him while I clean up Mr. Daryl's hands." Rose says pressing a kiss to Jamie's forehead, watching as she skipped towards Dale, calling out 'grandpa' to catch his attention. Dale turns at the sound of her voice smiling as she ran over to him and threw her arms around his legs, before he lead her towards the RV, her second favorite place next to the stables. Rose smiles turning to look at Daryl now.

"You gonna give me a lecture about my fists?" He asks and Rose shakes her head, standing up, Daryl doing the same as they headed towards her tent.

"Nope, just going to hurt you with lots of rubbing alcohol." She teases unzipping her tent, and steps in flopping down on her cot and reached under it to pull out the first aid as Daryl took his place beside her.

Daryl watches as Rose pulls out some gauze, and a few alcohol wipes setting them to the side as he rests his hand on her thigh, her smiling over at him before she starts to clean the cuts, him gritting his teeth from the sting of the alcohol.

"Don't be a baby Daryl," She teases when she notices his discomfort, him glaring at her as she laughs a little getting all the blood from his knuckles, then puts some of the antibacterial cream on the cuts, then wraps his hand up. Rose lets her fingers travel along his bandaged hand glancing back up at him as he gave her a small smile before he leaned forward, pushing her back on the bed, hovering over her.

"I'm not a baby." He says making her smile before he leans down, pressing his lips to the side of her mouth his hand moving up her side as she leaned up some, kissing him again pulling him closer by the collar of his shirt.

Rose nips at his bottom lip, laughing against his lips as he let out a gruff noise, his hands tightening a little on her waist before he deepens the kiss, his tongue tracing her bottom lip then moved his lips along her cheek, taking his hand and tilting her head to the side as he moved to her neck.

Rose let out a small moan, feeling Daryl smirk against her skin because of it as he moves his hands under her shirt, "Daryl." She murmured, feeling him hum against her neck in reply before he moved to look at her pressing his lips to hers again, "Can I ask you a question?"

Daryl smiles a little kissing her again before he rolled off her, lying on his side beside her on the cot as she turned to him. "You just asked me a question." He murmurs, brushing her bangs from her face as she smiles rolling her eyes.

"Well I need to ask you another," She says biting her lip when he wrapped his arms around her waist, pulling her closer to him as he nods giving her the okay to ask, "How did you find them?" She whispers, licking her bottom lip when he looked at her confused. "The group, how'd you find them?" She asks and Daryl nods slowly, sighing a little.

"Merle found 'im," He says grimly thinking of his brother, and Rose frowns pressing a kiss to his jaw. "We'd been stayin' in the woods, hunting, camping; we barely had anything left but a bunch of squirrels and a few bottles of water." He says Rose listening carefully as he spoke, her hand moving up his arm.

"Merle ran into our man Glenn, almost shot him dead 'till I stopped 'em." Daryl says chuckling, "Glenn was a little jumpy when it came to being around Merle, but eventually my brother convinced the china man to take us to the group, where they said we could stay as long as we helped out." Rose smiles shaking her head at Daryl.

"Glenn's Korean, you know that." She says laughing a little as he shrugged. "So you've been with the group ever since? Even after..." She trailed off, he had told her about what had happened in Atlanta, about his brother being left behind, how he only found his hand when he went back to save him, about the CDC, he had told her everything.

"This group was all I had left, they needed me, and I couldn't just abandon them to get eaten by them walkers." Daryl says gruffly, rolling over onto his back, a hand going behind his head the other still underneath Rose. "But it's different now, this group is different, it's broke." He says glancing over at Rose when she grew quiet.

"What do you mean?" She whispers and Daryl turning to look back up at sky through the tent's netting.

"Rick only follows by what Shane says, which ain't the best choice in my opinion…Shane…He's a strong man, good at doing the dirty work but he just don't think straight, especially since he's got a thing for Rick's woman still." Daryl says shaking his head looking over at Rose as she nods. Rose had been very aware that Shane and Lori had weird vibes, and she could only assume that something had happened between the two, and now it kind of all made since when Daryl said it, Shane was probably so strung out since Lori was pregnant, and it was more than likely his baby.

Rose looks up at Daryl, moving the rest her chin on his chest as he looks down at her, him moving to pull her hair from its bun, and ran his fingers threw it pulling her up some to kiss her, smiling as she straddled his waist.

"You ain't scared of someone walking by?" He questions sitting up some as his hands go to her hips and she only smiles taking his face in her hands and leaned down to kiss him, Daryl's hands moving to pull her shit over her head as she worked at the buttons of his shirt, freezing when she heard the sound of someone clearing their throat.

"If you two could finish up relatively soon I need to speak to Daryl," The sound of Rick's voice flooded the tent and Rose's face turned bright red and she buried her face into Daryl's shoulder hearing Rick laugh before he walked away, Daryl grumbling to himself as he laid back in the bed, Rose climbing off of him.

"I uh...I uh need to change then go to the RV." Rose mumbled running her hand through her messy hair as Daryl sat up, looking up at her smiling a little at her flustered appearance.

"Yeah, I better go talk with Rick." He says and stands up, taking her hand and pulling her close again, pressing his lips to hers, calming her down.

"Looks like the cat is out of the bag." Rose mumbles against his lips as he chuckles running his fingers through her hair, kissing her again gently.

"Guess so," He says smiling down at her before pulling away, "I'll catch you later alright?" He asks and Rose nods, waving at him as he heads out the tent leaving her alone to clear her mind. She shakes her head smiling to herself before sitting back on her bed.

She glanced around her tent, grabbing a few of her clean things, throwing all of her and Jamie's dirty clothes into the laundry basket in the corner of the tent before stripping from her sweats she had been wearing, tossing them into the basket too, and used the diaper wipes she had to clean of any dirt and sweat on her body, throwing them into the make shift trash bin before pulling on a pair of jeans and a blue sweater, putting her boots on and then ran a brush through her hair. Once she was dressed she headed out the tent and towards the RV, and when she got close to it she heard the faint sound of music and then Jamie's giggles which made her smile. She knocked once then let herself in, seeing Dale with Jamie's hands in his, her feet on top of his as he danced with her.

"Well what's going on here?" Rose laughs Dale and Jamie both turning to look at her.

"Jamie said she missed music so I pulled out my old record player." Dale explained Jamie running over to her mother and pulled at her hand, begging her to dance with her. Rose picked Jamie up, and spun her around making her giggle as she took her hand and swayed them back and forth.

"You should have broken this out earlier," Rose says looking over at Dale as he smiles softly giving her a small shrug.

"I never really thought about it before until Jamie brought it up." Dale says going to sit back down but Rose shakes her head and grips his hand pulling him back up.

"Who said you were done dancing?" Rose teases as he laughs shaking his head.

"Yeah grandpa! Dance with us!" Jamie cheered as Dale laughed taking Rose's hand, his other going to her waist, as Rose held Jamie up with her free arm, the three dancing and laughing.

It stayed that way for a couple a minutes until Dale was to worn out, and Rose now sat beside him on the couch of the camper, Jamie sitting on the floor drawing a picture.

"Rose I need to ask you something." Dale says looking over at her and Rose nods. "Rick has agreed to let us decide as a group of what we're going to do with Randall." Rose sighs glancing down at Jamie as she looked up at Dale.

"I think we should let him live." Jamie says smiling over at Dale before she went back to drawing, Dale turning his attention back to Rose.

"I think that he needs to be off this farm." Rose says looking over at Dale, "I don't care wither if Rick decides to let him go, or…terminate the treat. But as long as he's away from the group, away from Jamie, from Carl." Rose says and takes Dale's hand in hers.

"But if you want me to stand by you in keeping Rick from killing the boy, then I will." Rose says honestly, giving Dale's hand a reassuring squeeze and he smiles at her, letting her lean in to hug him.

"Thank you Rose," He murmurs pulling back and gave her a smile, "Let's hope Daryl is as opened minded as you are." Dale says and stands, "I'm going to go talk to him now; you and Jamie can stay in here if you like." Dale says and waves the two goodbye before heading out of the RV.

It was dark now, and Rose stood outside her tent, a cigarette in hand as she listened to Jamie humming from inside. The group had had their meeting, and the decision came down to Randall being killed still. Dale was really broken up about it and had stormed out after telling Daryl that he was right about the group being broken. Rose glanced towards the barn where Rick, Shane, and Daryl were about to out down Randall, and Rose for some reason couldn't help but feel guilty over it. She knew it wasn't her fault, he had stood beside Dale just like she had said, and Andrea did as well; but it didn't help any, the majority ruled. Rose wondered why there was no gun shot, the boys had been in their now for a good amount of time to have buried a bullet in the kids head, but there was no shot, and she assumed they'd taken a quieter route to take him out. So to see Rick, Shane, and Carl walking back towards the group, Rick seeing a little grim.

"We're keeping him in custody for now," Rick says Rose waking over to the group, glancing behind her as Jamie came out of the tent.

"I'm gonna find Dale." Andrea said and Jamie ran over to her, gripping her sweater.

"Can I come too? I want to tell grandpa the good news, Mommy can I?" Jamie begged turning over to look at her mom and Rose nods her and Andrea sharing a glance and she knew Jamie would be safe with her. Rose watched as Andrea took Jamie's hand and the two headed towards the RV, Rose sighing as she looked over at Lori and Rick once Carl had gone inside like his mother said.

Rose listened in on Lori and Rick's conversation, shaking her head at the thought of Carl wanting to watch them shoot Randall. She understood why Rick had decided not to go through with it, having his little boy actually wanting to watch something like that? She didn't know what she'd do if Jamie ever said something like that.

"Where's Daryl?" Rose asks now once Lori and Rick had finished, the two both sitting around the fire and Rick smiles a little looking up at her.

"He's back at the shed, getting Randall resituated." Rick says and Rose smiles nodding, Rick goes to say something else but is caught off by the sound of someone's screams, everyone recognizing Dale's voice instantly.

Rose looked around, realizing that Jamie was with Andrea, who had gone after Dale and her heart dropped, she grabbed her shotgun from the inside of her tent and ran.

"Jamie!" She shouted running towards the sounds of Dale's cries, praying he was okay but needing to find her daughter. She head Andrea shouting out Dale now, followed by Jamie's 'grandpa' and Rose ran faster, seeing everyone running in the same direction as her before she saw the walker, saw Daryl take down the walker, and then waved his arms around, calling everyone over to where he was.

"Dale!" Rose screamed stopping dead in her tracks when she saw him, her hand going to her mouth as she held back a sob.

"Grandpa?" Rose's head turned to the sound of Jamie's cry and Rose ran over to her picking her up and turning her away from Dale, not wanting her to see him. Dale laid there on the ground, making pained moans, his voice only coming out as bloody gurgles as he trembled, his stomach ripped open. Rose fell to her knees now, listening to Rick trying to reassure Dale, Andrea sobbing over him, everyone shouting for Hershel has he ran over. But Rose knew, there was no way they could save Dale, he had a gaping hole in his stomach, his insides were spilling out, there was nothing they could do, nothing but put him out of his misery. Rose squeezed her eyes shot, running her hand over Jamie's hair, shushing her as she sobbed into her mother's hair. Rose head Hershel speak the same thing Rose was thinking, everyone now crying louder as Rick shouted, Dale still making horrible gurgling sounds, and Andrea shouted for someone to do something. Rose looked up now, seeing Rick pointing the at Dale, cocking the gun, his hand trembling but he didn't get to pulling the trigger before Daryl took the gun from him, dropping to one knee as he aimed the gun at Dale's head. Rose flinches at the sound of a gunshot that followed Daryl's 'Sorry Brother', Jamie now crying harder in her arms.


	10. Better Angels

*_Here's the new chapter! This one is a bit short, but it's got a lot going on in it! I hope you all enjoy and don't forget to review!_

Daryl stood away from the group, his eyes scanning all the pained faces that surrounded the grave that Dale was now in. His eyes fell on Rose's face, her tanned skin was covered in dirt from where she had help dig the grave, her cheeks had tear tracks from where she had been crying, and beside her was her daughter, who wasn't crying, only stared blankly at the grave of the man she'd loved so much she referred to him as her grandfather.

He should have run faster…He should have done something to save him, he had failed again. He couldn't save Merle, he couldn't save Sophia, and now he hadn't saved Dale. He couldn't keep any of them safe; he isn't going to be able to keep Rose safe…To keep Jamie safe. They were going to die, and he wasn't going to be able to stop it. He listened to Rick give his eulogy, the man seemed to have a knack for them he thought and when it was over, instead of going over to comfort Rose, to hug Jamie like he knew they needed, he turned and he left. Following after Shane, needing to kill something, needing to somehow avenge what that walker had taken from him.

Rose stood beside Jamie as everyone left, her eyes going over to Daryl as he turned his back to them, heading off in the direction everyone was going in to repair the fences, and to kill off any walkers. Rose sighed and went to take Jamie's had, but she pulled from her and ran towards the RV ignoring her mother when she called after her.

Rose sighs glancing over at Lori when she feels her hand on her shoulder, "She'll be alright." Lori murmurs wrapping her arm around Rose's shoulder giving her a tight hug, Rose nods to herself hoping she was right, and pulled out her gun popping out the clip to check her ammo, before turning to look at Lori.

"Can you keep an eye on her for me? I'm just going to go for a walk." Rose says turning to look at Lori as she shook her head, "I promise I'll avoid cliffs, I just need to clear my head."

Lori nods and Rose smiles, thanking her as she fixes her gun, putting it in the back of her pants then heads towards her tent. She walks in and grabs her jacket, pulling it on and grabs the machete heading out of the tent. She twirls it in her hands, passing Carol who tried to talk to her but she kept walking, straight through the trees and towards something to kill.

xXxXx

Daryl hopped out of the back of the pickup, nodding towards Glenn as he said he was heading towards the farmhouse, Daryl going in the opposite direction to his tent He set his crossbow down running a hand through his hair before heading into his tent to grab a water bottle, shuffling through the mess of clothes on his floor he needed to wash still. He grabs a water bottle, and uncaps it, chugging half of it down before sighing closing his eyes.

They'd taken out at least eight walkers, they were close to camp near the pond that Jamie liked to play at, it just wasn't safe here anymore, he could feel it. He heads out of his tent seeing Lori running towards him.

"Daryl, I can't find Jamie." She said and he looked at her confused tossing his water bottle to the ground and grabbed his crossbow.

"Where's Rose?" He asked, it wasn't like her to just leave Jamie without telling anyone and Lori shrugged pointing back towards the woods as they headed towards the house.

"She took off into the woods, said she needed to clear her head. I was watching Jamie for her, she was in the RV and when I went to check on her she was gone." She says and Daryl bites his tongue from saying something rude, he was sure Rose would handle that if Jamie was still missing when they got back.

"Rose is going to kill you," He mutters glancing over at Lori, doing his best to keep his composure as he ran over to Rick who was giving out instructions.

"Glenn, T-dog you two take the forest, look for Jamie there, see if you can find Rose while you're out there." He says quickly and the pair took off into the woods, "Daryl, you come with me, we'll go east see if she's around the pond, the rest of you stay here, keep a look out for her, and if Rose comes send her our way." Rick says and then follows after Daryl who had already took off running towards the pond.

"You think she went looking for Rose?" Daryl glances over at Rick shaking his head, he had a good idea where she might be, he just prayed he was right.

"I think she was just lookin' to get away, like her mom." Daryl says quietly, quickening his pace some as he saw a walker, he aimed his crossbow, and brought it down, stopping to pull the arrow out of its head. "We need to find her." Daryl says now, his tone a little more anxious as they two started running, shouting for Jamie.

xXxXx

Rose smiles to herself, twirling the machete in her hands the dark blood dripping off of it from the walker she had just taken out, she sighs to herself wiping the sweat from her brawl and turned on her heel, feeling a little better from all the walkers she'd taken out in the woods. There seemed to be more than normal, and she thought she'd tell that to Rick when she got back.

She heard the sound of Glenn's voice calling for Jamie, and she ran towards it holding her hands out when T-Dog raised a gun to her, him dropping it as soon as he realized it was Rose.

"What's happened? Where's Jamie?" She asled Glenn shaking his head, not sure how to explain. "Glenn where is my daughter?" She snapped now.

"Lori lost her," He says and Rose holds back her anger, "Well she didn't lose her but she can't find her, Daryl and Rick were heading towards the pond, he wants you to head in the direction with them." Glenn says now and Rose nods, then runs passed them in the direction of the pond.

xXxXx

Daryl and Rick hadn't run into anymore walkers, they had walked the perimeter of the pond, getting close to the place Daryl thought Jamie might have been. Daryl heard a shrill scream and with that he ran faster, seeing Jamie running away from a sluggish walker, Rick took it down and Daryl ran over to Jamie, picking her up in his arms as she reached up for him, sobbing.

"Hey, hey Jamie it's okay. I'm here, I got you" Daryl said holding her close to him, Rick running over to look her over, sighing in relief when he saw no bites.

"She's okay, she's okay." Rick says clasping his hand on to Daryl's shoulder the two turning at the sound of Rose's voice. She ran straight to Daryl, dropping the machete in her hands and threw her arms around him and Jamie, her daughter crying harder now that her mother was here.

"I'm so sorry mommy." She cried not letting go of Daryl but turned her head to see Rose, "I just…I just wanted to see the flowers, but they're dead now." She says cries, making Daryl frown.

"You don't ever leave the camp again do you understand me?" Rose says pulling back some, wiping her own tears from her eyes, looking down at the dead walker, shaking her head. "You could have gotten hurt Jamie." She whispers pressing her lips to Jamie's forehead. Daryl moved to wrap an arm around Rose, pulling her close as she and Jamie cried. He was never letting either of them out of his sight again, he had to protect them no matter what.

Rose moved to pull Jamie from Daryl's grasp, but Jamie shook her head and tightened her hold on Daryl.

"I want to stay with daddy-" Jamie says and Rose frowns looking up at Daryl, he seemed a little shocked, but kept his hold on Jamie like she wanted.

"Come on guys," Rose turned at the sound of Rick's voice, "Let's get her back to camp." He says, Rose nodding and bent down to grab the machete, the walker now letting out a gasp and she glared at it, taking her machete and buried the blade into its head.

xXxXx

Everyone was back at camp now; Daryl sat with Jamie by the fire pit, while Rose took a shower in the farm house. When they got back to the camp she had went straight to Lori and ripped her a new one, Rick having to separate the two, who were now not on speaking terms. Glenn was fiddling with a guitar, and Andrea was cleaning her gun. Daryl looked down at Jamie who was curled up into his side, staring down at the ants in the dirt.

"I'm sorry I called you daddy." Jamie whispered, Daryl looking down at her shaking his head.

"It's nothing to be sorry for Jamie." He says quietly and she shrugs closing her eyes.

"I wish you were my dad." Daryl looked down at her sadly, running a hand through the little girl's hair. He didn't know what to say, he'd never liked kids much, but he did care for her, hell he loved the girl. He sighs, and glances up as Rose walks over, her hair damp, and now had on clean clothes, clutching her flimsy jacket to herself as she shivered sitting down beside Jamie.

"It's freezing." Rose mutters looking down at Jamie as she nods. "We're going to have to get you some warmer clothes sweetheart." She says glancing over at Daryl, biting her lip.

"Thank you." She says, and he looks at her and just nods, surprised when she leans over and presses her lips to his, in front of everyone.

Rick walked over with Hershel as Rose pulls away from Daryl, looking up at the officer as he started spouting out orders. They were moving into the farm, and Rose stood up taking Jamie's hand to go get their things packed up. Jamie walked with her mom, a little grin on her face that made Rose laugh a little.

"What?" She asked walking over to the SUV and popped the trunk, putting down the seats in the back so they could put their things in it.

"You kissed Mr. Daryl." Jamie giggles watching her mother walk to and from the tent, putting the blankets, clothes, and everything in their tent into the trunk.

"I did," She says smiling looking over at Jamie as she giggled again. "You just gonna stand their giggling or are you going to help me?" She asks and Jamie sighs, walking into the tent with her mother and helps her pull one of the cots out. Jimmy walked over and started helping them get everything in the car, even helped them with the tent and soon they were finished. Rose threw the teenager the keys and gave him a smile. "Drive that to the house for me?" She asks and Jimmy grins nodding and heads to the driver's side. Rose takes Jamie's hand walking towards the farm house, passing Daryl as he drove his motorcycle up to the house, stopping beside them.

"Want a ride Jamie?" He asks and Jamie grins turning to look up at Rose for permission.

"Go ahead," Rose says patting her back watching as she squealed and ran over to Daryl, him helping her onto the bike before he drove off slowly leaving Rose smiling to herself.

Everyone had gotten situated in the house now, Hershel had Rose, Daryl, and Jamie set up in the dining room, where Jamie now took her afternoon nap. Rose was standing beside Daryl as he got ready to head off with Rick to set Randall free, listening to him complain about losing his gun when T-Dog came over and gave him Dale's. The thought of Dale made Rose frown, she'd missed him being here, just like everyone else. T-Dog left to go get Randall and Daryl turned to Rose, seeing her worried expression.

"I'll be fine," He says looking down at her as she sighs nodding.

"I know, but I can't help but worry. There's been more walkers in these parts, what if something happens." Daryl sighs and takes her face in his hands, pressing his lips to hers.

"I'm going to be fine," He says pulling back to look at her as she nods, "I promise." He says giving her a smile that she returns, leaning up to kiss him again.

"He's gone!" Rose pulled away from Daryl had the sound of T-Dog's frantic voice running over to Daryl as Rick ran out of the house. "Randall's not in the shed!"

"Damn it." Daryl mutters and heads towards the shed with Rick, pulling at the strap of his crossbow. Andrea walks over to Rose as she follows after the men, helping them inspect the shed, seeing no sign of how Randall could have escaped. Rose walked out of the shed as the rest of the group ran over asking what was going on, Jamie running over to Rose still half asleep it seemed so Rose picked her up, letting her rest her head on her shoulder.

"Rick!" Everyone turned at the sound of Shane's voice, seeing him storming over his face bloody. Lori shouted out a what happened as Shane walked over everyone going to meet him. Rose looked at him curiously, wondering how he had broken his nose. "He's armed! He's got my gun!" He grunted.

"Are you okay?" Carl asked sounding worried, Jamie raising her head to look over at Shane.

"I'm fine, little bastard just snuck up on me, cocked me in the face." Shane says and Rick started giving out orders, Hershel to get back in the house, make Glenn and Daryl go with him and Shane and Rose turns to Daryl as he pulled his crossbow from his shoulder.

"Don't go." Jamie whispers and Daryl looking at Jamie in Rose's arms.

"I have to, I got to keep y'all safe." He says and grips the back of her head gently leaning down to press a kiss to Jamie's hair before looking up at Rose, "Get back to the house now, I'll be back." He says Rose nodding watching as he left with Glenn.

Rose turned when Andrea called her name, and she headed off towards the house, glancing back as Daryl and the others disappeared into the trees.


	11. Beside the Dying Fire

Rose leaned against the wall near the kitchen, biting her nails nervously as she waited for Daryl to get back. It was dark now, and there was still no sign of any of them. Jamie was sitting on the couch beside Andrea holding her knees to her chest as she sucked her thumb; a habit Rose was never able to break her from.

"I'm going after them," Andrea says standing up, Rose walking over to follow her lead when Lori shakes her head.

"Don't they could be anywhere," She starts looking up at the two women as Rose pulled her gun out, checking her ammo. "And if Randall comes back we're going to need you." Lori says her eyes falling to Rose as she sighed. The front door opened and Jamie was up, running at the sound when Daryl and Glenn came in, Jamie wrapping her arms around him before he could even say a word.

"Rick and Shane ain't back?" He asks his hand going to Jamie's shoulder to push her along in front of him as he moved further into the room.

"No," Lori says standing up shaking her head.

"We heard a shot."

"Maybe they found Randall." Rose throws in, trying to reassure him as she crosses over to him, Daryl shaking his head.

"We found him," He says looking down at Rose as she looks at him, waiting for him or Glenn to explain what happened.

"Is he back in the shed?" Maggie asks Rose glancing over at her as she looks at Glenn.

"No, he was a walker."

"Kid should've stayed where he was," She mutters running a hand through her hair as Hershel asks if they found the walker that bit him.

"Yeah the weird thing is he wasn't bite." Glenn says, catching everyone's attention and Rose shook her head.

"He had to have been bit, or he wouldn've been a walker." She says, and Daryl sighs looking down at her.

"His neck was broke,"

"So he fought back," She says making Daryl shake his head.

"The thing is that Shane and Randall's tracks were right on top of each other, and Shane ain't no tracker so he didn't come up behind him, they were together." Daryl explains, Rose looking over at Lori as she comes up and asks Daryl to go back out to look for him. He agrees and Rose following him out to talk to him.

Daryl stops Rose as soon as he sees the scene, Rose's jaw dropping as she sees all the walkers on the farm.

"Oh fuck," She says turning around as everyone makes their way out having about the same reaction as her. "We have to get out of here." She says, feeling Jamie grab her hand as she let out a whimper.

"Carl's gone," Rose hears Lori's voice and bites her tongue as she thought about making a snaky comment. "He...He was upstairs, I can't find him anymore."

"Maybe he's hiding," Glenn throws in trying to reassure her but she shakes her head.

"He's supposed to be upstairs; I'm not leaving without my boy." She snaps and Carol goes over to comfort her then leads her back inside to look for Carl. Rose squeezes Jamie's hand tightly, knowing she wasn't going to let her out of her sign for one second.

"We've got to get out of here." Rose says looking over at Daryl as he nods, and she leaves him pulling Jamie alongside her. "Come on Jamie, get everything you can, we'll start putting it in the trunk." Rose says quickly, gathering up clothes the boxes she had yet to unpack, and hurried back out the front door not even stopping to look at the now aflame barn. Her SUV was parked to the side of house still, and she opened the unlocked trunk throwing her things in, Jamie doing the same. Rose goes to run in again, and Daryl grips her arm pulling her to him.

"What are you doing?" He asks in a whisper pulling her away from the front door where Jamie was running in and out, throwing things into the trunk.

"I'm getting my daughter the hell out of here," She whispers back impatiently, looking back at the walkers that were getting closer.

"We're going to defend the farm, the group wants to stay." Daryl says and Rose looks at him before shaking her head.

"I can't, do you see the walkers? This isn't safe." She says desperately looking up at him as he looked towards the walkers.

"We have cars, guns, ammunition; we can take them out, and then lead them away from the farm." He says letting go of her arm. "We can take the farm back, just stay...Please." He tries, taking her face in his hands. "I'll make sure nothing happens to Jamie." He says and Rose bites her lip before nodding.

"Okay…Alright." Rose says sighing, and Daryl nods pressing his lips to hers, Andrea runs passed with T-Dog, the two both blushing at the site of Daryl and Rose as they part for each other.

"We're ready," Andrea says smiling over at Rose as she sighs, catching Jamie as she runs out with her rabbit.

"Mom everything important is in the car." She says gripping her bunny to her chest as Daryl starts talking to the two behind her and she nods, crouching down it front of Jamie.

"Baby we're staying here," She says and Jamie nods slowly Rose looking up as Carol came out, "I want you to stay here, stay with Carol." She says and pulls out the small pistol from her pocket, handing it to Jamie as her eyes widen. "Don't you play with this baby, remember what mommy taught you." She says and Jamie bites her lip nodding, taking the small gun carefully, not touching the trigger.

"Where are you going?" Jamie asks and Rose glances out at the walkers.

"I'm going to go protect you; I promise I'll be back. You stay with Carol okay?" Rose asks and Jamie nods, tears building up in her eyes as Rose presses her lips to her forehead then stands, looking over at Carol as she puts a hand on Jamie's shoulder. "Take care of her for me?" She asks, Carol nodding at her before Rose turns and takes the gun Andrea hands to her, then follows Daryl to his motorcycle.

"Ever been on one of these?" He asks as he climbs on, Rose snorting as she gets on.

"I'm a country girl Daryl, course I have." She says, cocking her gun as he laughs. "Let's go kill these fuckers." She says, and Daryl nods starting up the bike, and heads towards the walkers.

At that moment Rose wasn't real sure what she was thinking, but all she knew was that she needed to keep Jamie safe, keep the group safe, and keep Daryl safe. She held the gun in her hands tightly; taking aim at a walker that was so far gone its face was mostly bone and rotten muscle. She brought it down without a problem, and took aim for another one close to it, reloading her gun as Daryl drove towards the fences. He stopped the bike and started firing as the rest of the cars drove past, firing away at the geeks, running some over in the process.

"Daryl we have to move now." Rose says slapping his back as a few walkers started to get closer, and Daryl kicked down on the start and shot off as Rose fired away at the walkers.

Rose kept a hold of the bike as Daryl drove around, taking out every walker she passed, before she had to reload her gun. She tapped Daryl's side, and he stopped the bike, taking over killing walkers while she reloaded. As far as she knew Jamie was either gone or still in that house and the walkers were getting closer to it, she had to be sure she was out.

She glances back at the farm that wasn't too far and she takes a breath and climbs off the back of the bike, Daryl gripping her arm.

"What the hell are you doing?" He snapped, taking out one of the walkers that were heading towards them and she shakes her head, pressing her lips to his.

"I'm going to go get the SUV," She had to lie about that part, he'd try and talk her out of it, reassure her Jamie was safe. But she had to be sure. "I'll meet you back at the highway I swear." She says looking at him as she hears car honks, "Daryl I'll be there I swear." She says and he nods slowly.

"You better be there Rose." He says and she smiles pulling away.

"Get to the highway Daryl, I'll meet you there!" She says and turns, running to the house dodging the bloody, rotten arms that reached her way.

Rose would have never admitted it out loud, but right now she was scared. Her heart was pounding in her chest, it was all she could hear other than the sounds of the walkers moaning hungrily as she ran passed them, the stench something she was used to now. She looked down at the ground as she neared the house seeing the body that used to be Patricia on the ground, her middle missing as she reached up towards Rose who held back as sob before running into the house, "Jamie!" She called, knowing her daughter would call back if she were in the house, and when there was no answer she nods.

"Okay, okay. You can do this." Rose mutters to herself, heading towards the kitchen, seeing her machete lying on the cot that used to be hers and grabbed it, heading towards the it, she opened the door slowly a walker turning at the sound of the hinges creaking and she swung the machete, taking its head clean off.

"Fuck," She mumbles looking at the SUV that was surrounded with walkers, "Fuck, Fuck Fuck." She curses, and runs down the porch steps, letting out a yell as a walker gripped her arm, but she turned and shot it in the face before it could take a bite.

She grips the door handle of the SUV, throwing it open to slam into one of the walker's head before she jumped in, tossing the machete in the passenger side and closes the door behind her, locking it quickly as the walkers started to father around the car, beating the glass leaving blood handprints as they pushed at the car.

Rose reaches into her coat pocket, her hands trembling as she searches for her keys, she hears something crack and she looks behind her seeing the back window starting to break.

"Oh fuck," She cries and grips the keys, putting them into the ignition and starts the car just in time for the walkers to break the back window, she put the car into reverse and backed up, running over a few in the process as she swung the car around, put it back into drive and slammed on the gas pedal, walkers clawing at it as she tried to get away, not able to see herself about to drive into a line of trees.

xXxXx

Daryl watched the barn burn from a safe distance, the walkers making their pursuit to where Rose was, he should have gone with her, now she was probably being eaten alive by those monsters, and he'd have to go and tell Jamie her mother was dead. He heard screaming and the sound of Carol crying for help and he gripped the handle bars of the motorcycle, and turned it to the farm, kicking it into start to go save her seeing her running away from a group of walkers.

"Come on, I ain't got all day!" He calls out to her as she runs a bit faster and climbs on, the walkers right behind them as she screams for him to go, wrapping her arms around his middle.

"Didja see Rose?" He calls out to her, trying to distract her from the walkers as they passed them, he feels her shake her head as she sobs more.

"She crashed," The words left Carol's mouth and he swallows down the lump in his throat, driving faster now, not speaking anymore, not listening to her crying, he just drove to that highway and prayed that she was wrong, that Rose would be there waiting for him.

xXxXx

Daryl could see the figures of three people as he headed towards the highway, but when he parked the motorcycle, and Carol climbed off he saw none of them were Rose. Rick came over to him and greeted him before Daryl climbed off his bike, Jamie running over to him tears streaming down her face and she threw her arms around his legs, hugging him as she cried. He looked around as everyone came out of the cars, scanning the faces for Rose, but she wasn't there…She wasn't at the highway like she had promised.

"Where'd you find everyone?" _Not everyone_. Daryl thought to himself as Rick asked the question.

"Saw this guy's tail lights zigg zagging all over the road," Daryl gestured with his hands looking over at Glenn, "Figured he had to be Asian driving like that." He says smiling a little, doing his best to try and lightening up the dark mood, making Glenn chuckle as he nodded.

"Good one," Glenn says smiling despite the racial gest at him, looking towards Jamie as she clutched onto Daryl's leg looking around.

"Where's mom?" Everyone turned to look at her, now noticing Rose was absent from the group.

"Where's the rest of us?" Daryl asks, his hand going to Jamie's hair to try and calm her down.

"We're the only ones who've made it so far." Rick says, looking down at Jamie as she squeezes her eyes shut, starting to cry.

Daryl listens as everyone starts to say who they saw killed, Shane was dead, Patricia was dead, Jimmy was dead…Rose was more than likely dead. And Andrea was missing.

"Rose got crashed into some trees," Carol spoke up now when people started asking, "Walkers swarmed the car…I heard gun shots but." She trailed off looking down at Jamie.

"We have to go back," Daryl said now walking over to his bike, "I'll go find them, they're probably wandering in the woods together." He says and Rick stops him.

"We can't just leave them." He says, there was no way in hell he was just going to leave. Not without knowing if she was okay.

"She isn't there." Rick says shaking his head, "They're somewhere else, or she's dead. There is no way to find them."

"So we're not even going to look for them?" Glenn says, and turns at the sound of a walker coming towards them, tuning out what Rick was saying now as he watched it get closer. Rose was gone. She was gone and he had let her go. Jamie was alone now and it was his fault, he had gotten her mother killed. He shakes his head, thinking to himself he was done caring, all it done was cause him pain, if she was alive he was going to be done, but with his luck she'd be dead anyways.

"Stay off the main roads, bigger the roads the more walkers. Just more assholes like this one." He says now as T-Dog suggests they go east, he grabs his crossbow and heads towards it, taking aim. "I got 'em." He says and takes it down. He can hear Jamie crying, and Carol trying to soothe her as everyone starts getting their things together.

"Someone's coming." T-Dog says, everyone standing close together as a beat up black SUV starts heading towards them, the front window bashed it, and the driver's side window shattered.

"Mom!" Jamie cries out as the car pulls to a start, and Rose climbs out. Daryl couldn't believe it as he watches her make her way towards them, her sweater was covered in blood and dirt; there was a gash on the side of her head, blood trickling down her face. She was walking, she was breathing, and she was alive.

Rose limps towards them, her machete in one hand and her gun in the other she sees Jamie and she drops everything, falling to her knees to hold her arms out catching her as she runs into her.

"Oh god baby you're alright." She cries, burying her face in her blonde curls falling backwards onto her bottom as she clutched her to her chest, Jamie crying.

"I thought you were dead, I thought you were gone." She cries, Rose pulling back to press her lips to her face over and over.

"No, not ever, I'd never leave you." She murmurs slowly standing up, Jamie in her arms as she looks to see everyone smiling, tears in some of their eyes. Then she finds Daryl, him standing there by his bike, staring at her blankly as she walks towards him.

"I promised I'd met you here." She murmurs and Daryl looks away from her, he couldn't look at her, he'd fall right back into the place he wanted to get away from.

"What happened?" Rick asked stepping towards the two, and Rose tore her eyes away from Daryl, not sure why he was acting so strangely.

"Couldn't see where I was driving," Rose starts setting Jamie down now, holding her hand tightly. "Crashed into some trees, walkers swarmed the car, I tried starting her back up but she was being pretty difficult." She laughs humorlessly shaking her head, "They took out my windows and I took down as many as I could, then got the hell out of there."

"Did you see Andrea?" Glenn asked and Rose shook her head slowly her heart dropping, there was no way Andrea could have been dead…She was her closest friend in the group.

"She didn't make it out?" No one answered her and she closes her eyes, nodding slowly as a tear slipped down her cheek.

"We need to leave now." Rick said softly, and Rose nods wiping her tear away. Rose stood beside Daryl as everyone started heading for their cars, Carol taking Jamie to the SUV to give the two some privacy.

"You're a real idiot you know that?" Daryl says with a head shake Rose laughing a little as she shrugged.

"Hey, I made it out alive, no bites or anything so you really can't complain." She says and he shakes his head.

"Come on, we need to get out of her." He murmurs and tries to move past her, but she catches his hand pulling him back.

"Hey, don't be like that Daryl…I'm okay." She says, making him look at her, "I'm okay and I'm here now." She says reaching up to wipe the dirt from his cheek but he grips her hand, putting back to her side.

"We need to go." He mutters, and walks past her, climbing on to his bike. Rose frowns as he pulls away, going to lead the group most likely and she heads to the SUV, stopping the grab the gun and machete she had dropped then climbs into the driver's side, glancing back at Carol as she sat in the back, Jamie in shotgun.

"Put your seatbelt on." She says gripping the machete and leans forward breaking the glass so she'd be able to see out of it better, then follows the red truck Rick was driving in front of her.

"Is Mr. Daryl mad at you?" Jamie asks, Rose glancing down at her before shrugging.

"Guess so," She says sadly taking a breath, she'd almost died…She would have been gone, Jamie would have been alone without her, she thinks now that it was a stupid decision to go back, but what if Jamie had been in that house still? She shakes her head, she made the right choice, she didn't care what Daryl thought. Her daughter was her number one priority she always was, and she always will be, even if there was a stupid, socially retarded hick she was starting to fall for flooding her mind.


	12. We Are The Walking Dead

Rose rubbed her tired eyes as she follows behind Rick, noticing him start to slow up some before he honked his horn, and pulled over to the side Rose following after him. She sat in the car as Carol climbed out, and everyone started to gather around the front of the car that used to be Shane's.

Rose looked over at Jamie who had fallen asleep, the little girl told her that she'd shot at a walker, and got it in the neck. Rose hated that thought, that her sweet and innocent little girl fired a gun at something that used to be living, but she did it to protect herself, and to protect the group. Rose reaches over and unbuckles Jamie's seat belt, and pulls her to her, the girl waking up a little as Rose climbs out of the car and heads over to the group, standing near Glenn, Daryl only a few steps in front of her.

She came just in time to hear Rick say they'd go get gas in the morning, and stay the night here and set up camp. Rose wasn't for it, but there was really no other choice.

"We'd need to set up a watch, just in case any of them walkers show up." Rose says, setting Jamie down now as Rick nods.

"We can't just stay here though." Carol says looking over at her, "It's not safe we need to keep moving."

"I'm freezing," Rose looks over at Carl, Jamie nodding in agreement as she shivers beside her mother and Rose shrugs of her leather jacket, leaving her in only her flimsy dirty sweater as she wraps the jacket around her daughter.

"We'll build a fire," Lori says looking over at Carol who still seemed to be against staying.

"If you go looking for firewood stay close," Daryl says glancing back at Rose who nods.

"Before the farm was taken over Jamie and I were able to get most of our stuff out, we have blankets we could use for the night." She says, Rick glancing over at her.

"I've only got so many arrows, how you doing on ammo?" Daryl asks Rick saying that we didn't have much, and they were short on food and water.

Rose closes her eyes, trying to think of a plan as Rick starts laying out some ground rules, no one was allowed to go anywhere alone, we'd stay here for the night, camp over by the water. He gave one of his speeches, that always got the group to listen to him, and he started going on about finding a place for them to set up a home, a place to be safe but Rose didn't believe that, there was no being safe here anymore, not ever. Then the conversation turned to Randall, and how he turned into a walker without being bit, making Rose look back up at Rick as he mentions the CDC. Rose wasn't there, but Daryl had told her enough for her to understand what he was talking about.

"We're all infected," Rose looks at him confused, not understanding what he meant but Rick went on, "At the CDC, Jenner told me…Whatever it is, we all carry it."

Rose shook her head, turning away from him as he went on, the group starting to argue about how he kept it from them, Rose got why he did, they would have given up, just start thinking there'd be no hope. There was no hope. Rose knew that. She looked down at Jamie, trying not to think about what were to happen if she ever died…that she'd turn into one of those things. Rose shook her head and started to walk away, back towards her car ripping her arm away from Daryl as he grabbed her.

"Keep an eye on Jamie," She muttered without looking at him, and wipes her eyes, storming away from him, from the group as they continued to argue.

Rose leaned against the SUV, trying to think of a place safe, any place at all where she could go and take Jamie, to keep her from dying, to keep her from turning into one of those things. But it was inevitable, she would die, everyone dies. Dale died, Jimmy died, Patricia died, eventually Rose would die and Jamie would be all alone if she were still alive. There was no getting out of this hell, they were the walking dead. She turned and slowly sat down on the ground, leaning her head back against the SUV as she tries to calm herself down, she needed to be strong to keep Jamie strong, she couldn't let Jamie lose hope.

xXxXxXx

Hours had passed now, they had their camp set up, tensions were high and barely anyone spoke to each other. Rose sat with Jamie near the wall, a quilt blanket wrapped around them as Jamie shivered in her arms. She could hear Carol whispering to Daryl from where they were, trying to convince him to leave the group, leave with her. Rose didn't have a problem with Carol, she'd lost her child, she had been abused, but the thought of Daryl leaving was something she didn't like, nor would she let Carol convince him leave.

Before Rose could interject the conversation a sound in the woods startled everyone, Daryl, Rick, and Glenn all rising to their feet, starting for the noise as Daryl explained that it could have been anything.

Rose stayed quiet, listening as Rick began to argue with everyone, listening as he revealed that he had killed Shane, something that honestly surprised her. She knew Shane was losing it but she never thought Rick would have been capable of killing him. She shushed Jamie as she started to cry, stroking her daughter's hair as Daryl looked over at her, frowning at the sight of Jamie's tears, the group growing silent as Rick said they could leave if they wanted, not a single person moving.

"I'm staying by your side Rick," Rose spoke up everyone turning to look at her, "You've done everything you could to protect this group, and I trust you." She says with a nod, that Rick returned.

"If were done then," Daryl says clearing his throat nodding towards the woods, "We should go see what that was." Rick nods and heads off into the woods with Daryl, Rose letting out a sigh as she leans her head against the wall letting Jamie snuggle closer to her as she tried to sleep.

"Do you really trust him?" Rose looks up at the sound of Carol's voice, and she nods.

"I really do," She says quietly as Carol sits down beside the young mother, her eyes linger on her daughter. The little blonde girl made her think of Sophia, and made her miss her own daughter so much.

"He lied to us," Carol says quietly, looking up at Rose as she shook her head.

"He did it to protect us," Rose defends Rick easily, meeting Carol's sad blue eyes, "If he had told you that we carried the virus do you honestly think you'd want to keep going? Especially after losing your daughter." Rose asked her, Carol closing her eyes as a tear slipped from them. "Carol Rick cares about this group, he cares about you. He just wants everyone to be safe."

Rose watches as Carol nods slowly, more tears slipping down the older woman's cheeks and Rose open's up her blanket, gesturing for Carol to come over. Rose wraps an arm around the woman's shoulder, wrapping the blanket around her as Carol cries softly against her shoulder, Jamie crawling into Carol's lap now to comfort her as well.

Daryl walked alongside Rick quietly as the searched for the make of the noise, the two comfortable with the silence. Daryl respected Rick, he was the bravest man in the group he thought next to Glenn, and he had done thing wrong against him, he wasn't even mad about him leaving his brother on that rooftop anymore. He glances over at Rick as he holds his hand out bringing it back to point to the right, where the sound of whispers were being passed back and forth, followed by a gurgling sound. Rick shares a look with Daryl, gesturing for him to follow his lead and two make their way towards the noises, seeing a small fire in the distance.

Rick squinted his eyes in the darkness, making out four figures, two feminine looking ones that sat around the fire, and then two figures that seemed to have no arms, and they were making those awful noises, walkers.

Daryl kept his crossbow pointed at one of the walkers, Rick to the other as they walked towards the two girls, them both standing up quickly at the sight of people.

"Rick? Daryl?" The sound of Andrea's voice started Daryl and he looked over at the blonde as Rick stares in disbelief. Andrea leaves her place beside Michonne and runs to Rick, throwing her arms around him despite of herself, and did the same with Daryl. "You guys made it out! Is everyone alright?" Andrea asks and Rick nods, his eyes going over to the hooded woman, who wielded to very large sword.

"Uh…Andrea who's?" Rick points behind her and Andrea nods turning back to look at Michonne, swallowing down as she remembers the two walkers the strange woman toted around with her.

"Rick, Daryl this is Michonne, she saved me." Andrea explains and Michonne walks forward, pulling the walkers with her which makes Daryl raise his crossbow again, not wanting those things near him.

"They can't hurt you," The woman spoke up her voice was low, raspy, and she pulled her hood from her face, showing a round pretty face and dark brown skin. "I've made sure they can't hurt anyone." She says, her voice was a little crazed but Rick glances over at Daryl telling him to lower his weapon.

Daryl doesn't like it, but he obeys Rick's request and puts the crossbow back down, scanning the walkers. Their arms were cut off at the shoulders, and they had now lower jaws, and no upper teeth. She'd taken care of any way for them to bite, scratch or even infect anyone.

"Thank you for saving her," Rick says to Michonne but he couldn't tear his eyes away from the walkers, "You're welcomed to stay with us but.." He trails off meeting her eyes as she nods.

"I don't need them anymore." She says quietly and then with a swing of her sword, she beheads both walkers dropping the chain she held in her hand as the bodies fell to the ground. Daryl lets out a whistle thinking to himself that he was going to like this girl.

xXxXxXx

Rose hadn't slept, she was going to sleep until Daryl was back. She stood by the fire, glancing back to where Jamie slept in Carol's arms. She sighs and runs her fingers through her hair looking around at other members of the group, Lori was up still, Carl's awake too but rested against her shoulder, staring off into the trees as he waited for his dead to come home. The Greene's were asleep, Beth leaning against her father, and Maggie curled up against Glenn's chest as they slept. T-Dog stood beside her by the fire, he was prodding at the fire keeping the flames low, but trying to get them to burn hotter. Rose turns at the sounds of footsteps, a smile spreading across her face as Andrea appeared from the woods.

"Andrea!" She couldn't help but say her name, running to her friend and threw her arms around her, hugging her tightly as she cried happily.

"Rose, you're okay." Andrea breaths pulling back, a few tears slipping down her face as Rose laughs a little nodding.

"I thought you were gone." Rose says pulling her in for another hug.

"Of course I'm not gone, I have still yet to kick your ass at a race, can't die when I have that hanging over my head." She jokes laughing with Rose as they continued to hug.

Daryl heads over to the two girls, Rick following behind him with Michonne, his eyes moving to Lori as she stood up with Carl, but neither walked over to greet him. He looks over at Rose and Andrea hugging before Andrea pulls back and goes to hug Glenn who had stood up to greet her, the group gathering around now to inspect the new person they had brought along.

"This is Michonne," Rick says gesturing towards the woman as she gives a small nod, Carl eyeing the katana in her hand curiously. "She saved Andrea in the woods, and she's going to be staying with us…She also has some news." He says scanning the faces of the group as they waited for Michonne to speak up.

"I know a place where we can stay…A prison, fully secure, and most likely full of supplies."


	13. More Than Life

**Alright guys, so this chapter is filler, just a few things I wrote to catch ya'll up to how Rose has been getting along, and not getting along with the group.**

_҉_

"_What do you want to do huh? You want me to get down on my knees and beg your forgiveness, is that what you want?" Rose snapped as she stomped after Lori, ignoring Daryl and Rick's calls as they followed the women through the forest. _

"_What you did was unacceptable Rose, leavin' my boy like that, he could have gotten hurt!" Lori yelled as she made her way over broken tree branches, shivering from the cold while Rose glared at the back of her head._

"_What? I left Carl for one minute, that boy don't know how to listen to a damn thing, he wandered off on his own, what is he like thirteen? My six year old girl knows better than to leave the camp, your son's a damn idiot." She snapped, making Lori stop abruptly, the woman turning around, her nostrils flared as she glared down at the smaller but stronger woman._

"_You better watch your damn mouth when you're talking about my son Rose," Lori snapped, taking a step closer to her, her voice low and threatening, and Rose laughed loudly, making Lori angrier._

"_Right, you think I'm scared of some pregnant bitch? I went out in that town when there was a heard of walkers following my ass, and I got your son out. Maybe if you'd actually punish the damn kid it wouldn't happen so fucking often." Rose snapped back, and Lori shook her head, crossing her arms over her chest. _

"_Carl did nothing wrong, he was just trying to help." Lori defended her son, and Rose raised an eyebrow looking at her like she was an idiot._

"_Trying to help? Trying to help? Are you fucking stupid? Your son could have died! Like you said, so instead of blaming me maybe you should blame your fucking self for being such an irresponsible mother." Rose yelled, feeling a little bad when she saw the hurt look on Lori's face. _

"_I am not an irresponsible; my son is loved, by me and his father… Though I can't say the same about Jamie's father, where is he again?" Lori snapped back, and Rose lost it, she went for the punch but felt Daryl's hand wrap around her wrist, pulling her back before her fist could make contact with Lori's face._

"_You really gonna hit a pregnant woman Rosie?" Daryl growled out in a low voice, his arms wrapping around Rose's waist, while Rick got in between the bickering women, trying to calm Lori down who started to rave on about not being able to deal with Rose._

"_I ain't gonna hit her in the stomach, just in her bitch face to teach her a fucking lesson." Rose growled out, breaking from Daryl's hold._

"_You two need to stop now!" Rick shouted, holding onto Lori's wrist, looking over at Rose as Daryl finally released her, "We're a family now, you girls need to start getting along." Rick said looking back over at Lori, "Rose risked her life gettin' Carl back to us safely, she doesn't need to apologize, Carl left, he disobeyed her, and us." Rick said looking back over at Lori as she gritted her teeth, "Lori what you said to her wasn't right." Rick said and Lori sighed, looking down at her feet, "You two just stay away from each other, until you can start getting along." Rose and Lori exchanged looks, both far to proud to apologize to one another, so Rose snatched her hand back from Daryl, muttered a quick 'Keep an eye on Jamie' then stormed off towards the lake._

_҉_

_Rose stood beside Andrea as they watched Jamie play along the waterfront, the small girl toying with an armless Barbie doll, splashing Carl whenever she'd get near. "She's still able to stay so innocent," Rose whispered her fingers against her lips as she watched her daughter laugh when Carl tried to splash her. _

"_She's got a good mom taking care of her," Andrea said, nudging Rose gently, smiling when she did, "And she has a good head on her shoulder's… The girl things the sun shines out of everyone's ass here." Rose laughs a bit as she nods, leaning into Andrea, both girls turning at the sound of footsteps, seeing Michonne coming over._

"_Hey there," Rose greeted her, watching as Michonne took her spot beside the woman, looking out at the water as the sun rose in the distance. _

"_Rick's decided we're going to start moving," She said in a low voice, looking over at Rose who nods, glad he was deciding that it was about time to make their move on the prison. "He wants to raid a few of the houses, gather some more supplies and food for the group." Rose frowned looking over at Jamie already knowing what was going to come from the dark skinned girl's mouth, "He wants you to go with me Andrea and Maggie, the four of us will have to syphon for some gas in the little town about four miles from here, then meet back up with the group at a house Daryl cleared out."_

_Rose sighed, and pulled her gun from her holster on her leg, popping the barrel out to check her ammunition before popping it back in place, "Jamie hun, it's time to go back to camp, momma's got to go somewhere." Rose called out, making Jamie stand back up before running over to her. The three women walked along side each other as Jamie held her mother's hand, Carl running ahead of them to find his father and mother. _

_Jamie ran at the sight of Daryl, who was most likely going to be going with Rick, Glenn and T-Dog for their trip. "You girls goin' now?" Daryl asked as he picked Jamie up, holding her upside, making her giggle as she swung around in his hold._

_Rose nods, glancing over at Michonne and Andrea who didn't seem to argue, the two women excusing themselves "Yeah, gonna take my SUV, be back sometime before dark, same goes for you Dixon." Rose says with a smile as she steps towards him, watching as he lifted Jamie so she was right side up, and sat her down. _

"_Why don't you go play with Beth hun, mommy and Mr. Daryl will be back in a few hours." Rose says kneeling down and pressed her lips to Jamie's forehead, before standing back up, running her hand over her daughter's hair as she hugged Daryl's legs before taking off towards Beth._

"_She's gotten used to us leavin'," Daryl said as he walked along side Rose towards the SUV, to replenish his ammo with the little Rose had left, seeing Rick Glenn, and T-dog already there along with Michonne, Maggie and Andrea._

"_Yeah, she knows we have to go out to keep her safe." Rose murmured sadly, "I just hate leaving her alone." Daryl nods in agreement, not bothering to share anything when they reached her jeep. The couple listened as Rick gave the two groups the run down at what their missions were. The girls were to head to the small town of Dalton, get as many supplies that could fit in Rose's SUV, and all the gas they could. _

_Once Rick was done with his speech, the group went to say goodbye to their loved ones, and Rose made sure Jamie was down by Beth before making her way over to Daryl, who had already mounted his motorcycle, "That eager to get out of here huh?" She asked as she placed her hand on her hip, watching him as he looked up at her._

"_Yeah, the sooner I'm away from you the better." He said and Rose rolled her eyes before taking his chin in her hand, and leaned down, pressing her lips to his, kissing her him slowly, letting her tongue run over his bottom lip as he stood up some, pressing more into the kiss, going to grab her waist before she pulled back._

"_You better be at that house, unscathed, or you will never get that or anything more than that ever again." She warned, pointing a finger at him before smiling, and walked away, glancing over her shoulder to see him wiping at his mouth, a small smile on his lips._

_҉_

_Rose moved quickly on her feet, making sure each step she took was soundless, and accurate, not wanting to step on anything that would make any noise as she made her way through the small town, walkers walking through the streets, her gun raised, her finger on the trigger, ready to shoot anything that came to close. Andrea and Michonne had hit up the local pharmacy, and Rose was leading Maggie through the dead streets to the gun shop, and then the four would meet up in the small grocery store. Rose stopped quickly, her hand going to Maggie's to stop her as well as she signaled with her hands, telling Maggie silently to circle around the back, so they could take out the few walkers silently with their knives. Once she was sure Maggie understood the two women made their way down the street in quick steps, Rose pulling her machete out from its holster on her left side, and gripped the female walker by the back of her hair, pulling the gurgling creature back long enough to slice through its neck, causing the head to fall off, and onto the ground. Rose looked to Maggie, who had taken out a walker, and the girls smiled in triumph before heading into the gun shop, noticing a few missing guns, but finding enough ammo to last the group for the winter. _

"_You get all the ammo," Rose said quickly as she made her way around the shop, looking for more walker, "I'm going to go find myself a new toy, gather up some hand guns too, Jamie needs a smaller one." Rose said, looking back to Maggie who nods, "And watch your back, I don't want to have to go back to Glenn with you bit." She said before making her way into the back of the room. Rose set her duffle and back pack down, and started to toss random guns into her bags, surprised when she found some military grade guns in one of the rooms in the back. "This will come in handy," She mumbled to herself as she held up an AK-47, not even bothering to think of how this small town had this type of gun at the ready. Rose noticed a few bolts lying in the back that Daryl could use, and grabbed every single pack she could find, shoving them into her bag. Once her two bags could fit anymore she tossed them onto her shoulders, knowing they were weighing her down before running back out just in time for Maggie to finish._

"_More bags are in the SUV," Rose said as she strained to keep the bag on her shoulder, "We run back, drop this shit off, then head for the grocery store." She said, and Maggie nods before the girls run out of the shop, fortunate enough not to run into any walkers on their way back to the car. Once they had gotten the car secured, and shut they took the new bags, and headed for the grocery store, running into Andrea and Michonne just as they left the pharmacy._

"_Any luck?" Andrea whispered and Rose nods, grinning as they stayed close to the walls, peeking around corners to see if there were any geeks._

"_We hit a gold mine at the gun shop, there were fucking AKs." She said happily, noticing Andrea's eyes widen as Michonne rolled her eyes._

"_Always the one for the dramatics huh Jason?" Michonne teased glancing down at Rose's bloodied machete, and Rose scoffed._

"_Says the woman wielding two giant ass swords."_

_All four women laughed, catching the attention of a rather ghastly looking walker that was leaning against a broken down car. As Rose made her way across the street in front of her friends, she stopped to look at the walker, who was missing it's legs, not able to do anything but reach out to them. "Poor bastard," Rose sighed, letting her eyes stay on the poor man that probably used to be someone's father, brother… husband… but now he was nothing but dead eyes and rotting flesh. Rose took her machete, and plunged it into the walker's skull, before turning back to her friends, and followed them into the empty store._

_҉_

_Rose smiles when she felt hands on her hips, and she leaned back into Daryl's hold, tilting her head back to see him, wearing the 'poncho' she had made for him out of an old blanket. "It's warm huh?" She asked as she gripped the edge of it, running her fingers along the fabric as he nods, pressing his lips to her shoulder, resting his chin their as they stood beside the fire, most of their fellow group members asleep accept for Lori and Rick, who were arguing in the distance._

"_You 'gals did good out there today." Daryl said, wrapping his arms tighter around her waist as Rose grinned, turning around so she faced him, her arms wrapping around his neck, pulling back some to wipe some blood from his cheek._

"_I'm good at scavenging, and I'm good at protecting this group." She said, wincing when she heard Lori say her name, "Despite what her skinny ass may think." Rose sighed, smiling when Daryl chuckled, leaning his forehead against hers. "You've been a lot closer than normal." She murmured as she closed her eyes, feeling Daryl's hands slipping under her shirt some._

"_Mmm," Daryl hummed, pressing his lips to her cheek, "I've just realized a few things is all." He said, pulling her closer, as she looked up at him._

"_Like what?" _

_Daryl licked his bottom lip, shrugging a little, "That you and Jamie are to important to me now… and that pushing you away isn't going to help anything." He whispered, and Rose smiled, stroking the back of his neck before standing on her toes, and pressed her lips to his._


	14. The Parting Glass

Rose took in a steady breath as she followed behind then men, Carl, and Michonne close behind her. Things have gotten harder, the winter was finally over, and Lori was already in her third trimester, due maybe a month from now. Jamie had changed quite a bit over the months, her little girl was no longer full of innocence and childlike behavior, she had grown up, she knew how to handle a gun a bit better, and she knew how to kill a walker without flinching… she was only seven. Rose twirled her machete in her hand when Rick kicked the door down, firing his gun and killed a walker, T-Dog following after him, Daryl going to the right, and Rose followed after him while Michonne went after Carl who headed into the kitchen.

"Huh, we could play mommy and daddy in here." Rose whispered behind Daryl, seeing him glance over his shoulder at her, "What? I'm just saying, or we could play doctor." She teased, smiling when he rolled his eyes.

"We are in a middle of killing a bunch of geeks and you want to get in my pants?" Daryl asks as he kicks another door down, and shoots an arrow, getting a walker right between the eyes and she shrugs.

"Seeing you all sweaty with your biceps flexing is totally turning me on, what can I say." Rose joked, chuckling a bit when Daryl flat out said 'no' before he went on his way. Rose stayed close behind him as they made their way through the room, hearing footsteps on the other side of the door. Rose glanced behind her, making sure no walkers were sneaking their way through the back as Daryl opens the door, his crossbow aimed high, ready to take out the freak on the other side, chuckling when he saw who it was.

"Fourth time now," Daryl says and Rose turns, smiling a little as she saw Rick, and the three made their way back out of the room. Rose parted with Daryl now to head back into the main room of the house as the other group members made their way in, Jamie making her way over to her mother, her small handgun holstered safely to her side. Rose ran her hand over her daughters ratty, dirty hair, frowning a bit as she tried to wipe some of the dirt off her daughter's cheeks making her groan and swipe her hand away before she leaned into Rose's side.

Rose had tried to convince Jamie over the few months to let her cut her hair so it be easier to manage, but the girl would never let her, she said she liked it long, and that she would just keep it up out of her face, which she had been doing, but Rose was still worried about some walker grabbing a hold of her long locks. Rose had chopped her hair off a month ago, all the way to her chin but now it had grown down to right above her shoulders, framing her face. Rose turned when she heard the sound of footsteps coming down the stairs and she raised an eyebrow seeing Daryl ripping the feathers off an owl. Jamie made her way over to him, and let him pull her onto his lap when he took a seat on one of the tables, Jamie helping him pluck the feathers off the bird while Rose searched through a few drawers for anything they could use.

The group hadn't been doing to good as of lately, they still weren't able to get into the prison due the large heard of walkers that were taking up the roads, keeping them from getting into it, so Michonne and Rose had been taking it upon themselves to find another way in, even when Daryl argued and tried to get her not to go. They were running out of food, they only had a limited amount of ammo, but even with all the problems going on, the group had grown closer, and even Lori and Rose were getting along again.

Rose made her way over to Lori, and took a seat beside the much larger woman, smiling weakly, "How you holdin' up?" She asked, her hand going to Lori's stomach, feeling for anything abnormal, but finding nothing luckily.

"Just as well as the rest of us..." She mutters, looking over at Carl as he opened a can of dog food, probably thinking it would be a good enough meal for the entire group. Rose turned when she heard Rick's feet stalking over to them, watching as he bent down and took the can of dog chow from Carl, inspecting it carefully before he walked over to the fireplace and tossed the can into it, making a loud clattering noise, causing Daryl to flinch as he looked at Rick confused. Rose sighed, standing up from her spot beside Lori, glancing out the window to see walkers filling the yard, groaning inwardly at the sight before tilting her head towards the window, catching the group's attention.

Daryl stood up, setting Jamie down before grabbing her hand, Rose making her way over to the two before he snatched her hand and dragged her and the girl down the hall towards the back door, the rest of the group following close behind with their belongings. "Get to the car, don't stop for nothin'." Daryl said quickly once he finally let go of the girls hands, Rose nodding quickly before Daryl pressed a quick kiss to hers, then he ran off in the direction of his motorcycle. Rose looked down at Jamie as he daughter pulled her gun from its holster, and she shook her head quickly, telling her daughter not to fire at anything. Jamie gives her mother a quick nod and the girls head in the direction of their car, Rose letting Jamie climb into the driver's side, and crawl into the passenger side, closing the door behind her and started the car up, and took off after Glenn.

It had been like this for months now, they'd find a new place to stay, then get chased out of it by the heard of walkers that had been on their trail. It was exhausting, Jamie was always tired of moving, Lori was to pregnant to be moving so often, and Rose just wanted a safe place to raise her daughter until all this hell was over… if it would ever end. Rose had replaced her SUV with a nicely sized truck, the owner had killed themselves, shotgun to the head, and the keys were still in the ignition… Her car was her home as of lately, just like how the SUV had started out, her and Jamie had been living out of it during the winter, and now even Daryl slept in it with them..

"Momma, they're pullin' over." Rose looked over at Jamie as she pointed ahead of them, and saw the cars stopping in front of her, and she did the same, turning the car off, sighing when Jamie ran out to go be at Carl's side. Jamie had been sticking to Carl like glue lately, she had formed a crush on the boy, and he wasn't mean about it at all… Though Rose was sure it was getting annoying, especially since Carl had taken over the role of being a 'protector' of the group, even though Lori had fought against it. Rose climbed out, and making sure her gun was in its holster, and carried her machete in her hand, walking over to the group as they plotted out a new plan, the map laid out across the hood of Glenn's car.

"We got no place left to go," Rose looked over to Rick as he spoke and she rolled her eyes, crossing her arms over her chest as Michonne and Andrea came to stand by either side of her, glancing over a Carl who was watching the perimeter in front of them, Jamie at his side matching his stance, her handgun held up high just like his.

"If this heard meets up with us we're gonna be cut off, we'll never make it south." Maggie explained as she smoothed out the map, and Rose moved to stand by the car, glancing down at the map as she scanned for the prison, and tapped its location on the map.

"The prison guys, do I really need to go over it again? It's our best chance for survival." Rose said, hearing a few sighs from the other members of the group who were against it.

"There is a heard the size of Dallas there Rose," Hershel said as he scratched at his beard, "We don't have enough manpower or ammunition to take the place over."

"We do if we wait, and take them out in groups." Rose groaned, getting frustrated again as she looked up at the old man, "We set up camp, take out a portion at a time, these prisons are closed off, different cell blocks, if we just keep at it we can clear all the fuckers out, and take the place for ourselves."

Rose felt a hand go to her back, and she glanced to her side as Daryl moved to stand beside her, giving her one of those looks that told her to drop it and she sighed, hanging her head down in defeat. "Maybe next time we run into town Rose, if we can get enough ammunition, we'll make a move on the prison." Rick said sadly, looking over at her as she met his gaze.

"You said that the last time," She muttered as she pushed off the car, "And the time before that, and the time before that time." She grumbled moving away from the group to go stand back by Michonne and Andrea, the two women giving her small sad smiles.

Daryl glanced back at Rose as she stood beside the girls, then over at Jamie who was whispering something to Carl before she giggled, "What did you say, there about 150 ahead?" Daryl asked as he turned to look at Glenn, leaning against the car as the Asian shrugged.

"That was last week," He said as he squinted, trying to block the blinding sun from his eyes so he could look at Daryl, "Could be twice that by now."

"This river could have delayed them, if we move fast we might have a shot to tear right through-"

"Yeah but if this group joins with that one, well they could spill out this way."

"So we're blocked." Rose heard Maggie say to Hershel and T-Dog's observations, and she sighed, running a hand over her dirty face, really wishing she could just shower… or eat a good meal instead of owl and squirrel.

As the group started to argue about going in circles and moving west instead, Rose let out another groan, "The prison." She said again, making everyone turn to her, "The prison is in the west Rick." She said, giving him a shrug, "Why not try? I mean, what else do we have left to lose?"

"Uh, our lives?" Glenn said quickly, making her turn to look at him, an eyebrow raised.

"I say we at least try," Rose looked to see Daryl, who gave the group a shrug as they looked at him, "Rose is right, you all know that, that prison would be secure."

Rick bit his lip, nodding slowly as he looked at everyone else in the group, seeing a few of the group members mauling it over, "We hit the prison then." He said, and Rose smiles, looking over at Daryl who returns it, "We'll go check it out, do a head count of the walkers, then decided from there what we do next."

"Alright," T-Dog said as the group started to move back towards the cars, "Is it cool if we head down by the creek real quick, it won't take long, we need to fill up on water." He asked Rick who gives him permission before he turns to speak with Hershel.

Rose walks over to Jamie, putting a hand on her shoulder, "Come on Jamie, we gotta go get some water, leave Carl be." She said and Jamie sighs before telling Carl bye and follows after her mother, both stopping when Daryl comes to stand in front of them.

"You go down to the creek with everyone else," He said and Rose nods, taking Jamie's hand, "Me and Rick are gonna' go huntin' some, should be back soon."

Rose sighs, and smiles at him, "Make it fast, we've got a prison to get to." She mumbled, and he smiles at her before nodding, pressing a quick kiss to the side of her lips, then goes off to meet with Rick.

"You and Mr. Daryl are so gross now." Jamie said, making a face and Rose laughed before hitting her in the shoulder gently.

"Now be nice," Rose said and Jamie shook her head, pursing her lips as her mom lead her down the hill towards the creek. Rose finally let go of Rose's hand once they were close enough to the other members of the group, seeing Andrea, Maggie, and Michonne all down a ways, and made her way towards them, smiling when they greeted her.

"What are ya'll gossiping about?" Rose asked as she pulled her shirt over her head, and went to wash it out at the creek, smiling when Andrea laughed a bit.

"Just 'bout how you and Maggie seem to be the only girls getting any around here." Andrea explained, and Rose laughed looking over at Maggie who blushed, brushing her hair behind her ear as she avoided the girls eyes, but the smile on her face never fading.

"You mean Maggie is the only girl getting any," Rose explained as she knelt down in front of the water, and tried to rinse out the dried blood that was in it.

Andrea scoffed, and Michonne laughed as Maggie looked over at Rose, who simply rolled her eyes at the girls, "Right, I see you and Daryl with each other, there's no way you haven't sealed the deal." Andrea said, splashing a bit of water towards Rose who sat up.

"We haven't had sex," Rose said with a shrug, ringing her shirt out as she leaned back on her heels, "Daryl's never brought it up, and we're always on the run… or with Jamie." She explained, slipping her wet shirt back on, knowing it dry soon.

Andrea shook her head, still not believing it but Rose sound sincere, and they really hadn't gotten any alone time together, "Who would have thought Daryl Dixon was a gentleman."

Rose smiled a little at the though, and moves so she's sitting on her bottom, and stretched her tanned legs out it font of her, "Maybe when we get to the prison he won't be such a gentleman." She mused looking over at Andrea who raised an eyebrow and Rose smirked, "Hot, rough, cell sex; that is what I need." She said nonchalantly, everyone looking at each other before the girls all started to laugh loudly.

҉

It was about midday, the hot Georgia sun was beating down on Rose's shoulders, and sweat was dripping down her face as she kept her eyes Jamie, who stood a in front of her, her gun raised. Rose heard the sound of a walker's moan, and she turned to her right, seeing Glenn ram it into the fence surrounding the prison, before Rick called out to watch their backside while he broke open the wired fence. "Go on Jim Jam," Rose heard Andrea call out, and looked forward as Andrea ushered Jamie through the fence, before gesturing for Rose to follow. Once everyone was inside the fenced off area, Daryl and Glenn sealed the hole back up, and Rose looked to her left as the walkers on the other side of the fencing made their way over, moaning hungrily as they slammed their rotten, bony hands against the fence.

"Stay by my side Jamie, don't go near the fence." Rose said quickly as she gripped her daughter's hand, glad they had decided to tie her hair up in a bun. Rose took off after the group as they started to jog down the trail, walkers coming up to the fence, pushing themselves against it, groaning, and wailing as they watched the group of survivors run to safety, out of reach of their deathly hands. Rose looked down at Jamie when she heard her whimper some, frowning as she saw her daughter doing her best to hold back her fear, the girl clutching onto her mother's hand like she was afraid of being left behind. "S'okay sweet pea," Rose murmured as she picked her up in her arms, once they reached a larger sealed of area where the gate to get inside the other field that was just outside the prison itself. Rose held Jamie to her, running her hand down her daughter's back as she looked around, hoping that those walkers couldn't get in, that they could be safe.

"It's perfect," Rick breathed out as he scanned the field, looking towards the gate the walkers from the prison were coming out of, "If we can shut that gate, prevent more from filling the yard," Rick turned the group speaking with confidence and determination, "We can take out these walkers, and take the field by the night."

"And how do we shut the gate?" Hershel questioned, and Rose bit her lip as she looked across the field, trying to think of a good plan.

"I'm the fastest," Rose said quickly as she interrupted Rick from answering Hershel, "I can run across the field… shut the gate, as long as you guys cover my ass." Rose said, looking over at Daryl when he stepped forward.

"Nu uh, no way in hell Rose." He said as he shook his head, "Your leg has been jacked up since the fall from the cliff, you ain't gonna be able to make it that far, and then back again without gettin' hurt." Daryl said, and Rose sighed when the group agreed with him.

"I'll do it then," Glenn said, "You guys cover me." Rose looked at Maggie as she shook her head, disagreeing with him, calling it a suicide run, and it was, but it had to be done… if they wanted to be able to take this place over.

"No," Rick said as he walked over, "You, Maggie and Beth draw as many as you can over there, pop them through the fence." Rick said as he pointed to his left, the group's eyes following in the direction as they took the plan in, "Daryl, you go back to the other tower, take Rose and Jamie with you." Rick said, and Rose glanced over at Daryl as they all nod, "Carol you've become a pretty good shot, take your time, we don't have a lot of ammo." Rose looks to Carol as she nods at him, and the four took off in the direction of the tower, Jamie still in Rose's arms.

"You ready for some target practice Jamie?" Daryl asked as he opened up the door leading to the tower, Rose setting her daughter down as she laughs. Rose was the first one to go up the stairs, shoving her machete back into its holster on her side and pulled out her colt, checking the ammo before she kicked the door open to the tower and made her way to the side, peering out over the rails as she examined the yard, doing a quick head count to where all the walkers were. Some were traveling towards Andrea and Michonne who were on the right, while the others followed after the Greenes, T-Dog, and Glenn. Rose made a face, before shoving her colt back into its holster, and slung the rifle that was hanging off her back around, and gripped it tightly in her hands.

"You can't even see over the edge," Rose titled her had back to see Daryl laughing a bit as Jamie glared up at him, her head only a few inches under the top railing, "You ain't gonna be able to shoot nothin'."

Rose chuckles when she sees her daughter put a hand on her hip, something she picked up from her mom and pointed the gun at Daryl, "I could shoot you." She says smugly, her southern accent dripping off the words and Rose laughed loudly before shaking her head, Daryl chuckling himself.

"And I don't have to be able to see from the top, because I can see from the middle so ha!" Jamie said as she turned back to the railings of the tower, and got ready to fire, squinting her eyes as she held her gun tightly in her hands.

Rose fired away at the walkers, getting all the ones closest to Rick, or anything that tried to go after him, counting at least twelve dead because of her. Rose eyes widened when Rick stopped suddenly when a bullet flew right in front of him, and she looked to her left, Carol shouting out a sorry as she reloaded, and Rose smiled as she shook her head. "Gotta work on that aim Carol." She called out to her, glancing to her briefly before moving her rifle to the left, taking out a walker with a shot to the head, showing off just a little as Carol rolled her eyes at Rose's smugness.

Rose cheered when Rick had locked the gate up, and made his way into the tower, "Light it up!" Daryl called out to the group, and everyone started to open fire on the walkers that filled the yard, taking out every one of them, until the yard was filled with dead corpses, and Rose lowered her gun, smiling a bit as she heard Jamie shouting and cheering.

"I got some! I took down three! Three!" Jamie said happily, turning to look at Rose, a huge grin on her face and she smiled back, proud Jamie was able to protect herself but at the same time she couldn't shake of the dread of knowing her little girl was always going to have to live like that, to kill to survive.

"We did it Rosie," Rose looked up when she heard Daryl's voice, smiling weakly as he made his way over to her, wrapping his arm around her waist as he let out a loud whoop, pressing his lips to her cheek, his stubble tickling her and making her laugh a little, Jamie running over and jumped into Daryl's free arm, and he held her up high as she cheered some more Rose glanced over at Carol who watched the three, a look on her face Rose couldn't quite place.

҉

Rose was sitting by the small fire Carl and Beth had put together for the group, Jamie sitting in between her legs, Rose's thigh's on either side of her as they ate the small amount of food they had been provided for the night. Rose wasn't entirely sure what animal she was eating, but it had been a lot better than the owl Daryl had tried to get her to eat with him earlier that day, and she was grateful for being so close to the woods that was full of animals Daryl could hunt. Rose sighed as she handed Jamie the rest of her food, her daughter going to argue before Rose told her it was okay, and that she wasn't hungry anymore. Rose leaned back against her bag and pillow, looking across the field at Daryl who was walking atop of an overturned van, watching the perimeter for any intruders or walkers that were attempting to break the barrier.

"Mm, just like mom used to make." Rose moved her eyes over at Glenn as he chucked a bone into the distance, and she smiled, Jamie looking over at him confused.

"Korean mommies make rabbit for dinner?" She asked, her head tilting to the side in confusion, and Rose laughs as she shook her head, wrapping her arms around her daughter's waist pulling her closer as Glenn tried to explain to her what sarcasm was, "That's just dumb… If you don't mean what you're saying then why say it? That just makes things… frustrating." She said, grinning over at Rose when she pronounced the word correctly, the group laughing a bit.

"Truer words were never spoken before Jim Jam," Andrea laughed from her spot by Michonne, Jamie smiling proudly as she leaned back against her mom, yawning some as she set her plate to the ground.

"Tomorrow we'll pull the bodies together, wanna keep them away from that water." Rose looked over at T-Dog as he spoke, nodding as she took in the plan for the next day, "if we can dig a canal underneath that fence, we'll have plenty of fresh water."

"And if the soil is good, we can plant some seeds; grow some tomatoes, cucumbers, soy beans." Rose smiled at the thought of fresh vegetables, remembering how back on the farm they had a variety of vegetables and fruit… her mouth watered a bit as she remembered the peaches. "That's his third time around," Rose snapped out of her dreaming of getting a peach again, and looked to where Hershel pointed, seeing Rick walking the along the fence, two walkers on the other side following after him. "If there was any part of it compromised, he would have found it by now."

Rose watched Rick closely as he walked along the fence, and she bit her lip before standing up slowly, looking over at Beth and Lori as they began to discuss the baby, "I'll be right back Jamie, you should try to sleep." She whispered, pressing her lips to the top of Jamie's head before turning around, and headed in the direction of Rick.

"Hey there sheriff," She said, catching his attention and smiled when he smiled at her, "You find anything interesting yet?" She asked as she walked along his side, glancing back at the walkers following after them.

"No," Rick said, sounding a bit relieved, "This place is secure, just like you said." Rose smiled over at him as she nods, glad that Rick seemed to be chilling out some. Ever since the farm was attacked he had been tense, he hadn't treated Lori the same, for reasons that were obvious, he had been a lot harsher, more prone to shoot first and ask questions later, and had done nothing but anything that was good for the group… Rose looked up to him, he did things to protect the group, not just his family… while Rose, Rose always put Jamie before everyone else, before herself, before the group, hell she was sure she would even put her before Daryl.

"You and Daryl doing okay?" Rose looked over at him, her eyebrows knitting together in confusion as she shrugs a bit.

"Yeah, why wouldn't we be?" She asked and Rick smiled a little as he shook his head, stopping to look at her.

"Just wondering," He said as he looked down at the young nurse, "He's changed a lot… since he met you." He said, and Rose smiled a little, "He seems… happier. I haven't known the man that long, but before you came along he spent most of his time alone in his tent or in the woods… But now, now he spends most of his time with you… and your girl."

Rose laughs a little as she shook her head, "That's only because Jamie forced herself on him, she's got a way of winning even the hardest of hearts over."

Ricks laughs as he nods, "She sure does, she has grown attached to my boy huh?" He asked and Rose grinned as she rolled her eyes.

"She's got a think for them freckles, girl takes after her momma." She chuckled as she crosses her arms over her chest, shivering a bit as Rick sighs, both of the survivors turning at the sound of a soft voice singing, realizing that it was Beth, her voice echoing throughout the field.

"We should head back," Rick said quietly, and Rose nods in agreement, the two making their way over to the group, Rose seeing Daryl walking over to them alongside Carol. She smiles at him as she take her place back by Jamie, pulling her little girl into her lap as she yawned, whispering to her mother about how pretty Beth's voice was just as Maggie decided to join in, making Rose smile as she closed her eyes hearing Daryl sit down beside her, Jamie moving so she laid in between the two, drifting to sleep.

Rose leaned her head against Daryl's shoulder once she had pulled a cover over Jamie, and yawned as she wrapped her arms through his, Hershel commenting on his girls' voices once they were done singing.

"Better all turn in," Rick murmured, looking around the faces of the group, "I'll take watch over there, we got a big day tomorrow."

"What do you mean?" Glenn asked quietly and Rose looked over at Rick, a little confused as she stifled a yawn, feeling Daryl's hand moving up her back some, making her relax a little as she heard the sound of Jamie's soft snores.

"Look I know were all exhausted, this was a great win." Rose nods to herself as she listened to Rick speak, knowing where he'd be going with this, and knowing that she'd be all for it. "But we got to push, just a little bit more." Rick looked around the group, trying to gather his thoughts and Rose sat up a bit, watching him carefully, "Most of the walkers are dressed as guards and prisoners, looks like this place fell pretty early."

"That means it's full of supplies," Rose looked over at Michonne as she finished to where Rick was leading, the leader nodding in agreement with the woman.

"They'd have an infirmary," Rick lists of, and Rose bites her lip as she looked around at all the other members, "a Commissary."

"An armory," Rose turned her head to look at Daryl as he spoke, and she raised her eyebrows hadn't thinking about the fact that the prison would most likely be full of guns and other weaponry.

"That'll be outside the prison itself, but not too far away." Rick said and Rose grinned, "The warden's office would have information on the location; weapons, food, medicine. This place could be a gold mine!" Rick said, and Rose made a face, recalling the months prior when she and Michonne had been pushing for the prison, saying the same thing to the group but no one took a bite.

"We're dangerously low on ammo," Hershel said and Rose sighs as she turns to look at him, "We'd run out before we'd make a dent."

"That's exactly why we need to take a shot of going in there," Rose spoke up before Rick could, "We've been surviving out in these woods for months… freezing our asses off for what? A few days in an abandon house with no supplies? A nice charred rabbit's foot to snack on?" Rose said shrugging, hearing Daryl muttering something under his breath. "We go in there; we have a place to live, to survive… A place to call home and raise our babies until all this shit blows over." She said, looking around the group, taking in all of her friends, her family's, faces. "We need to do this… We need to take the risk."

Rose gives another shrug once she had her say, then looks over at Rick who smiled at her, glad she was on his side, "We go in hand to hand," He said looking back at the other faces of the group, "After all we've been through, we can handle it, I know it." Rick looked around, taking in a breath as he tried to keep his spirits high, knowing the danger of going in, but know it had to be done, "These assholes don't stand a chance." Rick said as he glanced down at Carl, the son smiling up at his dad and Rose smiled herself looking back down at Jamie when Rick stood up and walked away. Rose yawned as she stretched her arms over her head, and pulled her pillow form her bag, and placed it down beside Jamie's, snuggling up against her daughter, wrapping her arms around her waist while Daryl pulled a cover over the two.

"You think we'll be able to do it," Rose whispered quietly as Daryl lays down on the other side of Jamie, his arm behind his head, and he shrugged a bit as he stared up at the sky, listening to the hungry moans coming from the walkers nearby.

"Maybe," He murmurs looking over at her, "As long as we work together, don't let anyone get bit." He whispers and Rose nods, smiling a bit as she feels Jamie's fingers curl around her hair, and she yawns again, moving closer to her daughter, pressing her lips to the top of her head. "Sleep Rose, like Rick said, we got a long day ahead." Daryl whispered and Rose nods slowly, looking over to him as he turns his head to look back up to the night sky, feeling his hand in her hair, and she sighed, closing her eyes as he twisted, and curled her hair around his fingers, making her drift off, until she was finally asleep alongside Jamie.

_So yes, I know this isn't a full episode, but I've decided to split the parts into two chapters. I had to change a few things around due to the fact I had said Andrea and Michonne showed up at their camp, so things are a little different but I doubt you all mind. Also, next chapter I'm bringing a new character, who you all might be surprised about… Let me know what you think! Don't forget to review and thank you all so much for reading!_

_-Monique_


	15. Noisy Sunday

Rose hadn't slept so comfortably since they're time at the farm, all the nights during the winter had been freezing, and exhausting, sometimes she couldn't even sleep because of the fear of being out in the open for walkers to find them. But now they were in a new place, that was completely secure, and she was asleep in Daryl's arms, with Jamie right there. Rose opened her eyes, reaching out for Jamie only to find the empty spot where she once was. Rose shot up, startling Daryl awake and he looked at her confused as she stood up, looking around at the sleeping members of the group, "Jamie?" She called out, not caring if she woke them, "Jamie baby where are you?!" Rose shouted as she stepped over Glenn, who shot up when she accidently stepped on his hand.

"Where's Rick?" Daryl asked as he grabbed his crossbow, following after Rose as she shouted for her daughter, Rick running over to her from his spot on the van.

"What is it? What's happened?" He asked, shushing Rose as she started to scream again, and Rose shook her head, keeping on a brave face.

"Jamie's missing, I.. I don't know where she's gone." Rose was close to tears, she could feel it, but she couldn't let them slip, she wasn't weak, and with the group members eyes on her she couldn't let herself seem weak. "Did you see her Rick? She's just a girl, there's no way she could have snuck passed you."

Rick shook his head, "No, no I didn't see her Rose, the last time I did my rounds she was sleeping right in between you and Daryl." Rick said quickly, following after Rose as she stormed off, screaming for Jamie again.

"Jamie! Baby where are you!? Please!" She screamed, feeling Rick grip her hand and pull her back to him as the other group members spilt up, searching the yard for the girl.

"Rose, I know you're worried, we're gonna find her, but you need to stay quiet." Rick said through clenched teeth, looking to the fence where the walkers were starting to gather because of her shouts. Rose nods, feeling Daryl's hand on her shoulder, and she closed her eyes, letting that one tear slip out before the sound of a scream echoed through the yard followed by the cries of 'Mommy'.

"Jamie!" Rose screamed, pulling away from Rick and Daryl's hold and towards the sound of her daughter's screams. Rose eyes widened when she saw the walker with his fingers tangled in her blonde curls. Rose screamed out Jamie's name, running as fast as she could and wrapped her arms around Jamie's waist, trying to pry the walker's deathly grip from her curls, hearing Jamie's hair rip some, causing her daughter to cry more before she heard Daryl tell her to pull Jamie back some. Just as Rose pulled Jamie away from the fence, the sound of Michonne's sword swinging down rung in her ears, followed by the cutting of flesh, and Rose fell onto her bottom, Jamie in her arms.

Daryl looked to the girls, seeing how Rose cried now as she hugged Jamie to her chest, Jamie sobbing and panicking because of the hand that was still tangled into her hair, and Daryl knelt down beside the girls, and untangled the cold, rotten hand from the little girl's hair and chucked it over the fence where the dead walker now laid, seeing Michonne wiping the blood from her Katana.

"What the hell were you doing all on your own Jamie?" Daryl snapped, looking down at the young girl as she pulled from her mother some, wiping at her eyes. Rose looked over to her daughter, not able to feel angry because of all the fear she was feeling before, and now the relief of having Jamie being okay, so she let Daryl take the angry parent role from her.

"I…I had to go to the bathroom." She stuttered, crying still, and Daryl shook his head, taking her arm in his rough hand and pulled her closer.

"You don't ever do that Jamie, do you understand? You don't go on your own, ever, you have to always stay with us." He scolds, giving the little girl a pointed look when she went to open her mouth, "Do you understand me Jamie? You never leave camp, especially in a place you know is full of walkers, you could have got bit, you know what that would do to your momma if you got hurt? Or bit?"

Jamie looked up at Daryl, her bottom lip quivering as the man who had come to being the closest thing to a father yelled at her, his grip on her arm tight, "I… I'm sorry." She sobbed, her head hanging low as she cried softly, and Daryl frowned, feeling a little bad for making the small girl cry and pulled her into his arms, hugging her tightly as the rest watched, pressing his lips to her hair as he ran his hand over the back of her head.

"Just don't do it again." He muttered, closing his eyes when Jamie nods, wrapping her arms around his neck.

Rick put a hand on Daryl's shoulder, looking around at the group as he sighed, rubbing at his tired eyes, "We've found the girl… and now we've got work to do, you two finish up here and meet us back over by the camp." Rick said to the couple, looking from Rose to Daryl before they both nodded, watching as Rick and the others headed back to the camp.

Rose sighed, running a dirty hand through her equally dirty hair, and moved to stand, looking down at Jamie who continued to cry as Daryl ran his hand through the girl's ratty locks, looking over at Rose who was biting her lip. "I say we ground her," He said, and Rose raised an eyebrow, smiling a little as she shook her head.

"And how do you suppose we ground her Mr. Dixon?" She asks, putting a hand on her hip as Jamie looked between the adults, a little scared.

"Take away her gun privileges for a few days?" He suggests, shrugging a bit, both adults looking down at the little girl as she whined.

"No! I'm sorry; I just had to pee really bad!" Jamie pleaded, looking from her mom to Daryl seeing him shake his head and hold his hand out, gesturing with his fingers to hand over her gun, and Rose crossed her arms over her chest, a small smile on her lips as Jamie looked over at her, pleading with her eyes, but Rose just nods towards Daryl and Jamie groans.

"If I get eaten by walkers it's going to be ya'll guys' fault!" Jamie grumbled as she unbuckled the holster from her waist, and shoved it into Daryl's arms, before stomping away to the camp. Rose looked over at Daryl as he smiled, shaking his head as he took the gun from its holster, and shoved it in the back of his pants, tossing the leather straps and buckles over his shoulder.

"You've got the mean parent down pretty well," She teased, elbowing him in the ribs gently as he laughs, and walks beside her as they followed after Jamie, "Who would of thought daddy Dixon could be mean." She joked, smiling over at him as he rolled his eyes.

"The girl's gotta learn her place, the last thing we need is another Carl running around, gettin' us into trouble." He said, and Rose nods smiling a bit.

"Amen to that."

҉

It was about an hour or two after Jamie's little incident, and the group was getting ready to enter the closed off section of the prison, the strongest, and most capable members of the group stand ready at the gate as they waited to get in, determined to take over the other section of their new home. Rose was nervous, her eyes never leaving Jamie as she stood beside Carl, smiling at the older boy as he gushed about something to her, her daughter's eyes bright, and she could help but chuckle when she watched her daughter laugh. _The little flirt, s_he thought to herself, seeing now that Jamie was a bit more like Rose than she had wanted. Rose felt someone touch her hand, and she turned, looking up at Daryl as he tilted his head towards the gate, letting her know that it was about time for them to go in. Rose took in a sharp breath as her hold on her machete tightened, looking over at Hershel when he spoke.

"Ready?" Rose nodded, as did the rest of the group members, and Rose raised her weapon, watching as Rick opened the gate, and everyone filed in, T-Dog taking down the first walker, Rick calling out to Daryl to take down the one approaching their flank, and Rose heard the gate shutting behind her, knowing now this was a kill or be killed situation. Rose turned so her back was to Daryl's, the two pressed against each other as he took out a walker in front of him, and Rose swung her machete, hearing the crack of the thing that used to be a prisoner here skull before she yanked her weapon back, flicking it to her left, the blood spattering off and onto the ground. Daryl gripped Rose's hand, and dragged her back into the circle the group was in, looking to her left to see Michonne chop a walker's head clean off, and she turned her eyes back to the front of her, moving forward some to grip the walker by its shoulder, and shoved her blade through its chin the tip of the blade coming out of the top of his head before she pulled back, and moved into her place between Michonne and Daryl. This strategy went on, they'd stay back to back with each other, and take out all the walkers surrounding them, a way to keep each member safe, the other members of the group shouting and pounding on the fence, trying to get the walkers attention. Rose wasn't paying attention to how many walkers there were anymore, she only focused on taking them out, one by one, each monster that got near her earned a blade through the head. "Don't break rank!" Rose heard Rick shout out to T-Dog as headed to grab a caution shield that once belonged to a SWAT team officer. Rick shouted for Maggie when she broke rank, going to finish off a walker T-Dog pushed down, before running back over to them. Rose's heart was racing; her lungs were burning as she stood by Daryl, his hand wrapped tightly around her wrist as they walked backwards from the scene of all the slaughtered walkers that were scattered across the concrete. "We're almost there." Rose could feel the adrenaline pumping through her veins as they neared the stair case, and the other section of the prison. Rose pressed herself against the cool concrete wall, her chest rising and falling with each breath she took. "God damn, I need to quit smoking." She breaths, hearing Daryl chuckle beside her as Ricks opens up a door, seeing nothing inside and then continued down the corridor, cursing before he threw himself against the wall, the other survivors doing the same as they looked to their leader for guidance. Rose watched as walkers dressed in full armor, and protective masks stalked out from behind a dumpster, and Rose groaned inwardly, she went to grab for Daryl when he stepped forward, but he was too far and she felt herself start to panic. She watched as the two armor clad walkers turned to see them, Daryl raising his crossbow and shot an arrow that bounced right off the geek's mask. Rose reached forward and grabbed onto Daryl's arm, pulling him back before the walker could grab a hold of him, and then made her way forward, pushing the walker back, going to rip its mask off while the other group members fought of the other walkers. Rose let out a cry when another walker gripped onto her hair, pulling her head back just as she kicked the other walker in the chest, sending it flying back, and sending herself closer to the walker trying to take a bite out of her neck. "Rose! Damnit!" She heard Daryl call out, as he fought his way over to her, but Rose turned her machete in her hands, and jerked it back, hearing the breathless moan of the walker slip down the wall, ripping some of her hair in in the process. "I'm okay, I'm fine!" She shouted just as Rick called out to Daryl for help, who glanced at Rose before going to help the sheriff. Rose turned kicking the walker that she had pushed to the ground earlier in the face, knocking the things face mask off, then drove her machete through its skull, letting out an grunt as she did so, and pulled back, running over to help the others. Rose heard Maggie shout in joy, seeing how she managed to take out one of the walkers in armor, and the rest of the group followed in her example, taking out each and every walker until finally the seven of them stood in a corridor full of dead corpses, and then the animated once behind the sealed gate. Rose sighed, wiping the sweat the from her brow with the back of her hand, looking over at Daryl as he made his way back to her, and stood close to her side, walking around to examine their surroundings, Rose looking over at Rick when he told Glenn to stop.

"Well, it looks secure," Glenn said in a small voice, looking over at Rick a bit confused, Daryl raising an eyebrow and a hand as he pointed towards the walkers.

"Not from the look of the courtyard over there." Daryl said, Rose sighing as she looks towards the walkers, then followed his hand as he pointed down at the dead girl, "And that's a civilian." He said, Rose frowning as she let her eyes wander over the girl, who had to only be in her twenties, baked from the sun, and so far gone to the disease she barely looked human.

"So the interior could be overrun by walkers from outside the prison." T-Dog sighed, Rose squinting as she looked over at her, raising a hand to block the sun from her eyes.

"Well if there are walls down what are we going to do? We can't rebuild this whole place." Glenn said, holding his arms out and Rose bit her lip.

"Block them off, with cars… or something." She suggested, shrugging a little as she rolled her neck, feeling Daryl's hand going to the back of it, squeezing it gently, trying to help her get the kink out making her sigh as she leaned back into his touch.

"We can't risk a blind spot," Rick said, turning his head to look behind him some, "We have to push in." Rose sighed a bit as she looked down at her feet, feeling Daryl take a hold of her elbow to get her moving again even though she was sore and tired, and glanced over at Andrea as she nudged her side gently, giving her a wicked smirk.

"I bet we're about to find some prison cells for you Rosie." She teased, winking over at her, Maggie and Michonne both laughing as Rose rolled her eyes at Andrea's jest, Daryl staring at the women like they were nuts, something he did quite often when he didn't understand what was being discussed.

"Something I should know about?" Daryl asked Rose as he walked alongside her, causing the three women in front of them to laugh louder at Daryl's unknowing and Rose just shook her head, her cheeks pink as she tried not to laugh to much.

"Nope, nothing at all, yet at least." She teased, winking over at him before jogging a head to hit Andrea in the side playfully, all the women laughing again. Rose stood beside Andrea and Michonne as Daryl moved in front of them, standing a little away from Rick as he opened the door slowly, letting Daryl go in before the rest. Rose entered a little after Andrea, looking around the empty building scrunching her nose up at the smell of rotting bodies.

"You think any thing's in here," Rose shrugged some at the sound of Andrea's voice in her ear, her machete held up in a defending manner, looking up to the guard tower where she could see blood splatter and brain matter caked onto the window. Rose followed Andrea down the stairs, looking towards Daryl who was speaking to Rick with hand gestures, the two forming a plan together. Rose glided over to Daryl, keeping close to him as they watched Rick make his way up the stairs, his footsteps growing louder until he reached the inside of the booth, checking if the body was going to get back up and attack them. Rose sighed when Rick held up a chain full of keys, and lowered her weapon, leaning on her good leg some as she wiped at her face.

Rose sighed when Rick nodded them all over towards a door with the faded words 'CELL BLOCK C' written over it, and let Daryl drag her over by her elbow, noticing Rose's slight limp. "How's your leg feeling?" He asked quietly, making the other group members turn to look at her.

"Fine, I'm fine, let's just keep going." She grumbled as she tried to keep her weight off her foot, seeing Daryl's worried eyes, and Rick looking her over before continuing on through the corridor, the group reaching a barred door. As Rick unlocked the door, Rose felt Daryl pull her back some making her sigh as she titled her head to look up at him, meeting his worried eyes.

"You gotta quit your bullshittin' Rose," He said firmly, and Rose raised an eyebrow, giving him an innocent smile.

"I have no idea what you're talking about Daryl," She whispered, smiling softly when he narrowed his eyes, "I'm fine, really, my leg is fine, it's sore, but it's fine, now can we please move on?"

Daryl stared down at her, waiting for Rose to say something snarky about him staring, but she didn't, making him sigh, "You're going to be the death of me." He grumbled as he followed after Rick once the group had made their way through the door.

"I didn't say anything!" She laughed quietly moving in after him, her eyes widening a bit at the size of the cell block, and the lack of walking corpses. She looked to Daryl and Rick as they made their way up the stairs, before going towards the open door. She could hear the grunts and moan of the walkers in the upper cells while Rick and Daryl took them out, but she turned into the doorway, running straight into a snarling walker. As she went to raise her machete to take the thing out, the walker gripped onto her hair pulling her close, making he scream, accidently dropping her machete when trying to push the walker off of her.

Daryl heard Rose's screams and he turned to Rick, the two looking to each other before running down the stairs, seeing the others already running to Rose's rescue. Daryl hurried into the hall just in time to see Michonne take out the walker that was trying to make a snack out of Rose, and Daryl gripped Rose by her arm and pulled her up from the floor, making her cry out some. "What is it? Were you bit?" Daryl asked quickly, his hand going to her chin, tilting her head to each side, checking for any bites or scratches while she shook her head.

"My leg," She winced watching as Daryl dropped to his knees in front of her, taking the flash light that Rick handed to him and rolled her pants leg up, his eyes widening as he noticed how swollen her ankle was, "Is it bad?" She asked quietly, biting down on her bottom lip and Daryl sighed.

"Yes Rose," He said shaking his head as he stood back up, "You should have said somethin' it looks like Barney's fucking leg." He snapped, and Rose bit her lip, trying not to laugh.

"Sorry?" She shrugged, smiling when he rolled his eyes, "I'll be fine, I just need to stay off my leg is all." She said looking over to Rick as he sighed.

"Rose," He started shaking his head before taking the machete from her hand, "I'm borrowing this," He said meeting her eyes as she nods, "You've got to stay with Lori and the others from now on, until that leg is better… Once we get the others in here I want you to have Hershel take a look at it you hear me?"

Rose nods again, smiling a bit, "Whatever you say sheriff."

҉

Rose was sitting at the top of the stairs, looking down at her swollen purple ankle, wincing when she tried to move it. Daryl was a few yards away from her, clearing out the dead bodies from the cells up top, while Glenn guided the other members of the group into the cell block. Rose smiled when she saw Jamie, her daughter running over to her, and into her arms. "There's my girl." He breathed out her arms wrapping around Jamie's body, smiling when Jamie pressed a kiss to her lips, adjusting herself in her mother's arms

"Whatchu do to your leg now momma?" Jamie sighed as she looked down at her mother's swollen ankle, hearing Daryl mutter something to himself from the behind them, and Jamie craned her head back to look at him, "What was that Mr. Daryl?"

Daryl stopped what he was doing, looking over at the small blonde girl, "I said your momma was being an idiot, something she does regularly you know."

Jamie smiles a little as she looked back at Rose who was glaring over at Daryl, "It's kind of true mom." Jamie said with a shrug, making Rose gasp as Daryl laughed, "You can really be an idiot sometimes."

Rose rolled her eyes taking Jamie's face in her hand, squeezing the girl's cheeks together as she giggled, "You're supposed to be on my side missy." She said scrunching her face up to match Jamie's before pecking her on the lips, and stood her up, slapping her on the butt gently, "Go find us a decent cell to sleep in." Rose said, leaning back on her elbows as Jamie ran up the stairs and to Daryl's side.

"I ain't sleepin' in no cage." Daryl said down to the group after Rick had explained to everyone what was going on, and Jamie perked up, following after him.

"Yeah, me neither." Jamie said, trying to match Daryl's stride, and Rose chuckled.

"Guess Jambo and I are taking the perch." Daryl said down to the group, and Rose sighed, leaning her head back against the stairs.

"And I'm assuming I'm being dragged into the perch too?" She mumbled to herself, tilting her head to the side a she looked at Andrea and Michonne as they made their way up the stairs.

"Guess you don't get any of that hot rough cell sex." Andrea said loud enough for Daryl to hear who stopped what he was doing and looked over at the three girls, watching as Rose blushed, her hands going over her face and listened to Andrea and Michonne laugh. Daryl hadn't realized his jaw had fallen down some, only noticing it when Jamie pushed it shut, giggling because of the look he had made.

"You heard something funny didn't you?" She asked, looking back over at her mother as she let Andrea and Michonne help her to her feet. "They remind me of Charlie's Angels," Jamie said her head tilting to the side as Daryl and her stared at the three women as they whispered about something, before laughing more, "But they are more like…. Rick's Angels, or Daryl's Angels…" Daryl looked down at Jamie as she rambled on, pulling at the end of her braid, her hair still caked with dirt and blood.

"You best stop day dreamin' bout your momma being a spy and get to bed," He said, pointing down at the bed he had made for her and her mother, "You've got a big day tomorrow, and your momma's gonna need your help gettin' around since she's hurt her leg again."

Jamie sighed as she nods, pouting to herself before flopping down on the small mattresses and covers that were thrown across the hard floor, and pulled her shoes off, setting them beside her. "Do you have my book?" She asked, looking up at Daryl who was still staring at Rose, unable to get what Andrea had said out his mind.

"Uh, uh, the one Dale gave you?" He asked shaking his head trying to get the thoughts of gripping Rose by the hips and taking her right against the railings she was leaning on out of his mind, looking down at Jamie, her big, innocent eyes peering back up at him as she nods, "Yeah, right here darlin' hold on." He mumbled as he knelt down, and rummaged through his bag, pulling out the bright pink book full of fairy tales he carried around for Jamie, freezing a bit when he felt Rose's hand moving down his shoulders.

"You gonna read us a story before bed Dixon?" Rose cooed, smiling to herself as she noticed Daryl shudder some before handing the book off to Jamie, turning so he was facing Rose, who only smirked back at him.

"No time for stories Rosie," He said raising an eyebrow as she smiled, "To many prison cells to investigate right?" He asked, seeing her blush, her hand going over her mouth making him laugh as he shook his head.

"You," Rose bit her lip sighing as she realized he had heard Andrea and her talking, "Just pretend you heard nothing." She mumbled standing up and grabbed her bag, "Jamie, mom's gonna change out of these nasty clothes." She said, biting her lip as she looked down at Daryl, "In fact, Daryl should too, and Jamie you need to change into your pajamas before you sleep." She said pointing down at her daughter who nods at her.

Daryl looks up at Rose a little confused, watching as she kinked one of her eyebrows up, the sides of her lips curling up into a smile he wasn't used to from her, and before he knew it he was on his feet with his bag in hand. "Jamie go to Carol's cell, her and Lori can help you with your PJs." Daryl said quickly following after Rose down the stairs.

Rose bit her lip as she glanced back at Daryl, who was letting her lead them out into the corridor that lead to the yard outside, stopping once Daryl closed the door behind them. Rose glanced back at him smiling a little as she dropped his bag, "So what exactly was it you've been gossiping about with your girlfriends?" He asked quietly, keeping to himself as Rose shrugged off her jean jacket, and let it fall to the ground.

"Nothing of importance," She said with a shrug, turning her back to Daryl, "Just… how I thought this prison would be the perfect place to take things a bit more serious." She said as she unbuttoned her pants, and pushed them down slowly, knowing he had a nice view of her lacy underwear stopping her movements when her pants hung loosely off her hips, before turning to look at him, biting her lip again. "What do you think?' She asked tilting her head to the side… "You think we're ready for the next level?"

Daryl's eyes wandered over her toned legs, before going back to her lacey underwear, licking his lips once as he took in a deep breath and took a step to close the distance between them. His hand went through her hair, not minding the tangles and rattiness of it as his lips were on hers immediately. Rose reacted quickly, her arms wrapping around his neck as she pulled him down to her. Daryl moved forward, pressing Rose into the wall as his hands fell from her hair, down along her sides, before slipping beneath her shirt. Rose moaned softly into his lips, before she pressed her head back into the wall when his lips moved along her jaw and down her neck, nipping at her shoulder. His fingers moved down along her hips, over the underwear, and downward as he crouched. He moved each leg out of her pants gently, leaving a trail of kisses on her skin, a couple on her swollen ankle before setting it on the ground again, his lips moving up. He was on his feet, and his hand moved her shirt over her head before he stepped back to admire the view of her, "Damn."

Rose couldn't believe she actually blushed, but before he let out another smartass comment of his, she lurched close to bring his lips to hers again, and he pressed her back into the wall again. Rose's hand moved over his plaid shirt, working the buttons off. When she started to push it off his shoulders, he pulled away and grabbed her wrists. Rose frowned a little, "It ain't gonna be a pretty sight, Rosie." He warned gently as his hand went to her cheek. She leaned into his touch, but her hands still pushed his shirt back, over his rigid shoulders. With a sigh of defeat, Daryl let her.

Rose smiled as her fingers trailed over his shoulder blades, until reaching his back before trailing down, hovering softly over the tender skin. "It's okay." She murmured and lifted a brow as she looked at him, "Don't you get insecure now." Rose snickered teasingly and he rolled his eyes, "You're one provocative woman, eh?" She had to laugh, and he immediately silenced by placing his lips on hers again, "Stop the talking." He taunted, and she nodded quickly. Rose's hands fell over his chest as his hands explores her body, drinking in every inch of her as he nipped at her bottom lip. Daryl pushed his hips up into hers when her hands dared to travel down to his pants, "Not yet, Rosie." He moaned softly and she scowled in complaint; however, the scowl faded as he continued to push his hips into hers. She barely had any clothes on, and his every movement drove her a little crazy every minute. Daryl pulled away a little, and she did a small thanks as her hands had access to his belt again. She quickly undid it, with a little experience as Daryl watched, impressed. He'd done lots of girls before, but Rose - Rose was a special case. How special, that he didn't know yet. His train of thoughts got cut when her hands curled around him, and his hand immediately gripped her wrist. "Nu uh, no games, little woman. You had your chit chat about it with your girlfriends, now let me take over the 'doing' part." Daryl reluctantly drew her hand away, and shook his head when she pouted, "Ain't gonna work, Rosie." Daryl's hands moved over her shoulders, sliding off her bra straps before his fingers trailed over her skin, around her back to the clasp as he undid it. He let Rose shake the bra off, and admired her supple breasts.

Rose, again, blushed underneath his gaze. She was no virgin, but she sure as hell felt like one. Daryl wrapped one arm around her, pressing her hips to his as his free hand tugged away her underwear, tossing them away as he immediately gripped her legs to lift them around his waist. "Don't wanna hurt that leg of yours again now, would we?" Daryl murmured pointedly as he peered up at her, and Rose felt a small smile tug at her lips, the kind that made Daryl smile back just as warm before he kissed her again. He still held her at a distance, a distance that irritated Rose a little bit too much. Daryl kissed, bit, nipped, and sucked at her skin, peppering those little ministrations of his over her lips, jaw, neck, collarbone, shoulder, and chest. Rose's hands were in his hair, sometimes guiding his lips back to hers, sometimes just holding on to muffle her moans when used his lips everywhere but hers.

Daryl made sure he made her moan, very thoroughly too. He'd gotten pleasure of hearing other girls just screaming his name, but Rose? Daryl just wanted to satisfy her, and only her. His hand reached down to align himself over her, before he his eyes found hers, "You ready now?" He asked, and Rose nodded quickly, a little breathless. Daryl's free arm went around her body, holding her close as he pushed into her, surprisingly slow. Rose bit her lower lip, shutting her eyes tightly as Daryl dropped his head onto her shoulder. They both complemented each other. He was fit for her and she was fit for him, it felt perfect. Daryl moved slowly at beginning, and Rose just tried to contain her moans, breathing a little too quick through her nose. His lips were on her shoulder, sucking, nipping, trying to be silent. Rose simply just pushed her body into his chest, gasping through her teeth when he picked up his pace.

Rose let out a soft whimper, earning a small smirk from Daryl that she felt on her skin as his lips drifted down. Rose's grip on his hair tightened as his lips hovered along her cleavage, and around her breasts, "God.." She complained and he chuckled a little, "Just call me Daryl, Rosie." Rose rolled her eyes as she turned her head to press it into the wall again, taking in a shaky breath when his lips moved over her mounds, his thrusts into her maintaining a steady pace before slowly accelerating his lips latched around her nipple. Rose gasped again, this time a little more audible as she rocked her hips into his, her lips falling apart as she clenched her eyes shut. Daryl bit onto the soft bud gently, and Rose just moaned again, breathing too quick, too audible, but it sounded just about perfect to Daryl, the muscles down deep within him coiling as did Rose's. He felt her clench around him, her hips pushing into his as she took him in, and in no time he was buried deep into her - to the hilt. Daryl's arm snaked from around Rose's body to her other bereft breast, kneading softly with his palm as his lips worked the one he was latched on. He moved his lips away and stared at her as he moved faster into her, drinking in her face, and how pleasured she was, just loving the beauty of it. He let out a groan accidentally when she arched her hips up a little, and Rose simply snickered. "Two can play that game, Dixon." Rose muttered breathlessly, and he grinned before he claimed her lips again, his hand gripping hers and holding them over her head as he went on a faster pace. Their hips rocked, the only sounds were their moans and the skin on skin movement. Rose was at her high now, all she needed was one little shove to fall off the cliff. Daryl leaned closer and nipped at her earlobe before he whispered ever so huskily, "Let go, Rosie. For me, you let go now." And she did. Rose's body arced into his, and shook wildly as his name fell out of her lips so loudly, walkers a mile away could have heard it. Daryl immediately silenced her, his lips on hers again as he moaned into her lips, he too emptying into her. Rendered breathless, the two gasped into each other's lips, but Daryl was the first to manage some words, "Beats the hot rough cell sex you had in mind, huh?" He whispered breathlessly.

"Shut up." Rose huffed as she laughed a little. Daryl turned, holding her up before he eased out of her and cradled her into his arms. His back was pressed into the wall, and he slid down against it before he settled into the ground, letting Rose's body settle between his legs as her head fell back onto his shoulder.

"How's the leg?" He asked, his lips pressing beneath her ear as his arms wrapped around her body, cover her up.

Rose smiled, "It's fine, Daryl. It's perfect." She mumbled as she turned her head to look up at him. She saw the smile on his face, one of his rarest, and she craned her lips upwards to press her lips to his, before pulling away a little, and settling back into his arms again.

Rose trailed the pads of her fingers along Daryl's arm, her head leaning against his shoulder while he held her close, "Your daddy caused those scars huh?" She asked quietly, hoping her accusation wouldn't upset him.

Daryl chewed on the inside of his cheek, "Yeah,." He mumbled leaning his head back against the cool wall, trying not to let himself slip into old memories.

"It makes sense," Rose said quietly, sitting up some, hugging her knees to her chest turning her head some to look at him, "Why you are the way you are." She said smiling sadly over at him as he looked at her, raising an eyebrow. "You're kind…. And you deliberately go out of your way to protect people…. Like Sophia and Carol." She said shrugging a little. "You're a good person Daryl, whether you want to believe it or not."

Daryl looked down at Rose choosing not to say anything to her, but leaned forward and pressed his lips to her shoulder, "We should head back." He whispered before he stood up, and helped Rose to her feet. The two remained silent as Daryl adjusted his pants, and buckled his belt again, glancing over at Rose as she limped to her bag, and rummaged through her belongs, before pulling on her undergarments, and the shorts she always slept in. "Here." Daryl said and tossed a button up shirt from his bag in her direction, smiling when she caught it, "It's probably the cleanest thing I have." He shrugged as he pulled a grey shirt over his head, watching as Rose buttoned her shirt up.

"You think anyone noticed our absence?" She asked as she gripped her bag, and let Daryl wrap an arm around her waist, helping her walk a little bit faster.

"Probably," He admits, chuckling a bit when she sighed, "I'm sure they won't say nothin' though, maybe Andrea." He points and Rose nods, leaning against his side when he opened up the barred door, the sound of soft whispers and snores filling the room the group was in.

Rose smiled a bit when Rick turned the corner, his eyebrows raised as he inspected the two, biting his bottom lip before chuckling to himself, "Ya'll let me know next time you excuse yourselves from the cell block." He says, looking over to Rose as she brushed her hair behind her ear, trying not to seem to suspicious, but from the look on Rick's face it was obvious what the two had been up to.

"Won't happen again," Daryl said with a nod, Rick rolling his eyes as he patted him on the shoulder before heading towards where ever he was sleeping, and let Daryl lead Rose back up to their makeshift bed at the top of the stairs.

Rose smiled at the sight of Jamie asleep, her bunny clutched in her side, and her book peeking out from beneath her pillow. Rose sighed and set her bag down, looking over to Daryl as he walked along the cells, checking on everyone while Rose moved to lie down beside Jamie. . Rose closed her eyes, trying to sleep, but all she could think of was Daryl; how he touched her, kissed her , looked at her… She couldn't wrap her head around what she was feeling, the last time she felt this way it had been with Ryder… and it didn't turn out so good.

"Mommy," Rose opened her eyes, and turned her head smiling at little as Jamie yawned, and scooted closer to her mother. "I don't want to leave this place."

"You won't have to," Rose looked up as she heard Daryl who dropped down on his mattress beside Jamie, and her daughter turned on her side to look over at him, while Rose yawned and lay back in bed, running her fingers through Jamie's hair, trying to get the knots out. "This is our place now Jambo, where we can be safe."

Rose smiles a little at Daryl's words. _Safe. _He was right, they were safe, for the time being…. But Rose wasn't going to do that to herself, let herself worry constantly over being safe, she just needed her daughter, and she knew no matter what she would be safe… as long as she had Daryl at her side.

_So, again, I cut this one short….well shorter than I had originally planned, but I like this chapter, and I'm sure you all enjoyed it I hope! Next chapter the new character is going to be introduced, any ideas?_

_Also, I'd like to give a huge thanks to my good friend, and beta reader Yasmin, the most amazing person on this planet, because she my friends, wrote that amazing smut... because I haven't been able to write smut lately, so everyone thank her!_


	16. This Place is a Prison

Rose was outside with the girls, trying to get their clothes washed in the creek just a mile or so outside the prison. Glenn and Rick were standing guard on each end of the creek, while Daryl and Michonne were off hunting in the woods. "Make sure you get all that soap out of your hair Jamie!" Rose shouted out to Jamie who stood in the creek with Andrea, the two splashing each other, soap sods still in Jamie's hair as she tried to dodge the water being thrown her way.

"Don't be too loud now Jamie," Rose warned as she sat back on her bottom and stretched her legs out in front of her, happy to be clean, or as clean as she could be, "We don't want to give Rick and Glenn any trouble with walkers."

Jamie giggled as Andrea mocked Rose while she talked, looking over at her friend who had her eyebrows raised, and her jaw cocked to the side before Andrea closed her mouth and folded her arms behind her back, whistling innocently, making everyone laugh. "So Rosie, where'd you sneak off to last night?"

Rose blushed, and turned her head, looking anywhere but at Andrea as Jamie walked back over to her, and held her arms our so Rose could wrap a towel around her. "I snuck off nowhere."

Andrea snorted as she made her way back over to Rose, catching the towel she threw up at her, and sat down beside the brunette, drying her hair off. "Uh well according to Michonne who was patrolling with Rick you and Mr. Dixon snuck off together."

Rose sighed, shaking her head, "Yeah, so?" She asks, tilting her head back as she soaked up as much sun as she could, squinting over at Andrea as she nudged her in the side.

"So give me the details Rose, what happened? You know I live for this kind of stuff." She laughed and Rose smiled shaking her head before she sat up, looking over to Jamie who was walking over to Carol, who had been drying her clothes.

"Things may, or may not have gotten heated." Rose said, laughing when Andrea's eyes widened, and her friend gripped onto her arm, pulling her close.

"Seriously?" Rose nods at Andrea, watching as Andrea smirked, "Well how was it?" She asked curiously, pulling a clean shirt over her head as Rose smiles, blushing a bit at the memory of Daryl's hands on her hips, his lips nipping at her skin.

"It was great," Rose bit her lip bringing up one of her legs to her chest, and rested her cheek against her knee, looking over at Andrea as she smiled, "It was sweet… and hot and just… perfect." She blushed, turning her head when Andrea laughed shaking her head. "He was so gentle."

"Daryl Dixon gentle, now that's something I didn't expect," Andrea teased and Rose just rolled her eyes before looking back at Andrea, "What brought it on?"

Rose chuckled, "You actually," She said, letting Andrea pull her to her feet, "He heard your little comment about the cell sex." Rose pursed her lips, looking over at Andrea as her eyes widened, and she laughed loudly again.

"Well I'm glad I could get you laid." Andrea chuckled looking over at Rose; the look on her face makes Rose roll her eyes. The two girls both sighed while Carol walked over with Jamie, Rose's daughter running over, begging for her mother to french braid her hair when they headed in. The sound of puerperal blades whirling around drew their attention to the sky, and Rose's eyes widened as she saw the black smoke that filled the sky. "Oh my god." Rose eyes were wide as she watched the large helicopter trying to gain control of it's flight, before disappearing into the trees far out in the north, Rose's grip tight on Jamie's shoulder as Rick and Glenn ran over to them.

"Oh shit, do you think it landed?!"Rose turned to look at Glenn for his question, giving him a look as Rick shook his head, sighing sadly.

"No, I think it crashed." Rick said putting a hand on Rose's shoulder when she sighed, "We need to investigate the crash… there could be survivors."

"I'll go," Andrea said taking a step forward as Rick nods, his head turning at the sound of quick footsteps, seeing Michonne and Daryl running back over.

"Did you see it?" Daryl asked looking up at the smoke filed sky, and Rose nods biting her lip as she looked over at Rick.

"I'll go with Andrea," Rose said quickly, looking over at Daryl as he raised a brow shaking his head.

"Your leg is to damaged Rose," Rick said before Daryl could and she groaned, crossing her arms over her chest, hating being so useless to the group, "Michonne you go, take whatever ammo you need, and keep off the roads you two… and if those men are in need of help blind fold them before bringing them here."

Rose looks over at Michonne and Andrea as they both nodded, taking in Rick's orders before Rick told them all to head back into the prison, "Hey, guys wait up a sec." Rose said hurrying after Andrea and Michonne before they could head out towards the crash.

"What is it Rosie?" Andrea asked as she checked her guns for the ammo, before looking up at Rose when she stopped in front of them.

"Please be careful," Rose whispered sadly, "I lost you once A, I don't wanna have to lose you again." She said, looking up at Andrea as she smiled sadly before the blonde pulled her into a hug, and Rose gripped Michonne, forcing her into the hug despite her groan.

Rose pulled away from her friends, wiping at her eyes as they gave her small, sad, sad smiles before going on their way to investigate the crash, and Rose bit her lip, feeling Daryl's firm grip on her shoulder.

"Come on now," He whispered, his other hand going to her waist and she felt his rough cheek against hers when he pulled her into his chest. "They're gonna be just fine Rose." He mumbles, and she sighs, leaning her head against his shoulder as she nods.

"Right, no, I know." She said, tilting her head some so she could see him, smiling sadly, "I'm just worried they won't make it back."

Daryl shakes his head, "They're going to come back, a white feminist with anger issues and a black ninja are going to fair perfectly well out in that shit hole."

Rose couldn't help but chuckle, "Black ninja?" She questioned and Daryl just shrugged, giving her a toothless smile before, wrapping his arm around her neck, and pulled her close. "God, you smell like ass." Rose groaned, pushing against his chest as he laughed keeping her close despite her struggle.

"You don't smell to great either princess!" He defended, finally letting go of her, smiling at her glare.

"I smell perfectly fine; I just washed, not like you know what that is anymore." She teased, sticking her tongue out at him as he rolled his eyes.

"Ain't got time for washing, I'm out there catching you some food to cook up so we don't starve." He said with a nod, and she rolled her eyes, smiling when he pulled the fence open for her.

"You should at least wash up, you're covered in blood, it's not a pretty sight." She said looking over at him as he wired the fence shut again, the two walking towards the prison.

"I'll do that after we clear out this next cell block," He said, pulling at the string of squirrels and rabbits he had caught on the hunt, "No point in getting all prettied up just to get bloodied again."

Rose rolls her eyes, "Philosophical advice by Daryl Dixon ladies and gentlemen."

҉

Rose was busy getting a cell situated for her and Jamie, right across from Daryl's perch. She was scrubbing the walls as clean as she could get them with what little water she'd gathered, and some cleaning supplies she'd found in an old janitors closet. "You're going to scrub your fingers to the bone Rose." Rose smiled as she turned, looking back at Carol as the older woman came in and took a sit beside her, and reached into the dirty bucket, pulling out the other wash cloth.

"Hey, if it means getting this cell clean enough for Jamie to sleep in it, it's fine by me." She said with a shrug, flexing her sore fingers as she rinsed out the cloth. "You're staying in Lori's cell right?"

Carol nods, "I've been keeping an eye on her while Rick's busy." She said, and Rose nods, "I worry about her."

"I wish we could tell wither or not she really lost the baby." She whispered sadly, her scrubbing on the wall going a little slower, "That baby in her… it's due soon, wither it's dead or alive, it's going to come out eventually."

Carol nods, glancing over her shoulder at the sound of humming, smiling a bit when Jamie came in, humming some song as she flopped down on the clean mattress Rose had already placed on the bunk beds. "That's a lot of blood." She observed, and Rose smiled when all the blood was gone from the wall.

"That it is Jamie," She said, looking over at Carol, "Thanks for the help… I'll come help with your and Lori's cell once I get the rest of this cleaned up."

Carol smiles, and nods before excusing herself from the cell, and Rose stood up, lifting the bucket of bloody water up, "Looks like all this room needs is your drawings to decorate the walls huh?" Rose asked as she dumped the water into the sink in their room, before setting the bucket in the corner beside the bed.

"I don't like to draw anymore," Jamie said, leaning back on her bed, and Rose sighed crossing her arms over her chest, "Drawing is for babies."

"Jamie," Rose started but before she could finish the shouts of Rick flooded the cell block, and she jumped, turning to look at Jamie when Rick shouted out her name, "Jamie you stay right here, don't move." Rose said, pointing to the bed before running out of the cell and down the stairs, her eyes widening as she saw Rick and the others wheeling the car in, Hershel on top of it with a bloody stump that used to be his right leg.

"Oh god," Rose said quickly and hurried after them when the wheeled Hershel into his cell, "Get him on the bed, on the bed now!" She shouted, pulling her hair up quickly into a messy bun before going to Hershel's legs, "Go get bandages, towels, anything, we need to stop the bleeding." She ordered out, shrugging of her flannel shirt and used it to cover up the bleeding stump, pushing down on the severed limb as hard as she could, trying to stop the bleeding.

While Rose and Carol worked on getting Hershel's leg from bleeding, Daryl walked back into the corridor that lead into the other cells, loading up his crossbow as he waited for the prisoners to file out. Daryl kept his crossbow raised, watching as the prisoners entered the room, the first some spic, followed by a few black folks, a white crack head looking type, and the a pretty boy.

"That's far enough," He said, watching as the men looked around, his eyes remaining on the last man, noticing something oddly familiar about him as he stared Daryl down.

"Cell block C," The spic was talking, but Daryl really could care less, he could hear Rose's shouts as she tried to calm the Greene girls down while trying to patch up their daddy, "Cell four that's mine gringo , let me in."

"Today's your lucky day fellas, you been pardon by the state of Georgia, you're free to go." Daryl's head snapped to the side when he heard Jamie's voice, sending her a look that made her stop before running over to him, watching as she stayed by the door, hiding from sight of the prisoners.

"Whatchu got going in there?"

"That ain't none of your concern," Daryl answered quickly, looking away from Jamie and back at the prisoners, keeping them from taking any more steps toward the cell block.

"Don't be telling me what's my concern." Daryl reacted quickly when the Mexican pulled the gun from his pants, and Daryl moved forward, aiming his crossbow right at the bastard's head, his finger on the trigger, ready to pull.

"Chill man," Daryl didn't even glance when the larger black guy spoke up, his eyes locked onto the spic's, "Dude's lead his messed up, besides we're free now, why're we still in here?"

"Man's got a point."

"Nu uh," Daryl turned his head when the other man spoke up, the white guy with a pretty boy look about him, "Why are you fellas here; a bunch of civilians breaking into an old abandon prison? Something ain't right." Daryl raised an eyebrow at the accent the man carried, one very similar to Rose's.

"Well why dontchu go find you what's not right." Daryl spit out, not liking the tone the man, making him take a few steps forward, about to give the hick a piece of his mind when he heard a shout, making him stop.

"I gotta go check in on my old lady." Daryl glanced over at the man who spoke, did they really not know?

"I think we'll just be going." Daryl glared over at pretty boy as the other white man tried to reason, but the spic and pretty boy just weren't having it.

"You ain't coming in either!" T-Dog shouted, walking out, pushing Jamie to the side gently, Daryl looking over at her quickly when he noticed her gun raised at the Hispanic man.

"Put the gun down Jamie," He said quickly never lowering his crossbow, but keeping his gaze on her, "Go back to your momma," Daryl said but Jamie looked at him, then back at the men, never dropping her gun, "Jamie Go!" He shouted at her, making her jump, before scurrying off and he sighed, turning back to look at the prisoners, noticing the spic with his gun raised at T-Dog.

"This is my house, my rules, I go where I damn well please!" He shouts, and Daryl glares shaking his head as he steps forward, causing the man to turn the gun on him.

Rose looked over at Rick at the sound of a man's shouts, "What was that?" She heard Beth ask while she went back to work on keeping Hershel's leg elevated. "Prisoners, survivors." Rose groaned, shaking her head as Rick told them not to worry.

"Jamie, someone get Jamie back in here." Rose said quickly, glancing back at Lori as she nods, before hurrying out after Rick and Glenn. "Carol keep pressure on his leg for me," Rose said snapping to get Carol's attention before hurrying over to her bag, and shuffled through it, finding the last bit of antibiotics she had. Rose grabbed one of the unopened syringe packs form her bag, and made her way back over to Hershel who was now unconscious, getting the shot ready and searched for a vein to inject it in.

"This should stop it from getting an infection, but it only last so long… and he's going to need bandages, and some pain killers so when he comes to." She whispered as she leaned back on her heels looking up at Beth and Maggie as they cried. "He's going to be okay… If we can just… keep him alive, he should be okay." She was kidding herself of course, he was bit, he was carrying even more of the virus than he had been before, and if it spread, he would end up getting another one of them killed.

Rose sighs, looking over to Jamie who was clutching onto Lori's leg, and Rose looks down at her bloodied arms and shirt, frowning. She noticed the shouts of the prisoners and Daryl had subsided, actually, the cell block held an eerie silence, one that made Rose's skin crawl, and get a feeling of dread wash over her.

She stood up slowly, wiping her bloodied hands to her jeans, thinking back to Daryl's earlier statement about getting all prettied up just to get bloodied, damn man was right, of course he was. "Mommy," Rose looked over at Jamie when she whispered her name, and she walked over to her, excusing herself from the rest of the group as she followed Jamie out into the hall, kneeling down in front of her as Jamie rubbed at her eyes.

"What is it doll baby?" She asked, looking up at Jamie as she sniffled, looking down at her feet.

"I… I think I saw my daddy." Rose's jaw dropped at what Jamie said and she frowned shaking her head quickly, upsetting Jamie, "No… Ma, really... When Mr. Daryl yelled at me… I... I looked at the scary men in jump suits, and one of them looked just like daddy."

Rose sighed, "Baby… No, no that man wasn't your daddy." She whispered sadly, looking up at Jamie when she pouted, "Daddy was in Louisiana… There's no way he would have be able to get to Georgia baby."

Jamie closes her eyes, and looks down, avoiding her mother's gaze, "It was him… I know it was."

Rose frowned and shook her head as she stood back up, "Jamie go up to our room, take a nap…Now." She said when Jamie went to interrupt, causing Jamie to glare before stomping her way up the stairs and into the cell.

Rose it her lip, looking down at her bloodied hands before heading back into the cell with Hershel, and took over for Carol, changing the dressings on his leg, looking at Lori and Carol briefly as they picked on each other's appearance, the two laughing lightly before the sound of footsteps was heard.

"Food's here," T-Dog sang out, and Rose smiles a bit shaking her head as she sighs, and wraps a clean towel around Hershel's leg, listening to T-Dog list out some of the food they had brought back, before Rick came over and Lori gave him the run down on Hershel's condition.

"Take my cuffs, put them on him." Rose looked over at Rick when Glenn reached for his cuffs, "I'm not taking any chances."

"Where's Daryl," Rick turned his head and looked over at Rose as she wiped the blood from her hands, and he jerked his head back towards the door.

"Back with the prisoners, keeping an eye on things… We're going to clear them out a cell block to stay in, away from ours." She made a face at that, and shook her head choosing not to say anything and went back to her work on Hershel's leg.

"He needs some more antibiotics Rick, and pain killers." She said sighing a bit, "On your little run to help out a bunch of convicted felons, look out for the infirmary."

Rick nods, "I'll keep an eye out, you just be careful around him Rose, he could come back…" Rose sighs, nodding quickly as she wiped at her forehead with her forearm, turning to look back at Rick.

"Keep Daryl outta trouble for me will you?" She asked, giving him a small smile when he nods, before the two told each other goodbye, and Rick headed off with T-Dog.

Daryl was leaning against the walk out on the corridor leading to the different cell blocks that were locked off, his crossbow held to his side, but his finger on the trigger, an arrow loaned and ready to be fired at any of the asshole who made a move. He glanced over at the other white guy who looked about his age, well built, with a nicely sculpted face. He was the type of guy Merle and him used to make fun of when they saw them, the type of guy who wore nice clothes, and sneakers with no a single mark on them… a pretty boy, and Daryl could already tell he didn't like him. He was quiet though, hardly said one word since they first found them, and stayed away from the other prisoners.

"You gotta name," Daryl looked when the pretty boy finally spoke, the other prisoners looking at him as well, looking a bit surprised he was talking.

"Yeah," Daryl said back, not bothering to give the man any knowledge about him or the rest of the group.

"Well… Aren't you friendly." The prisoner muttered shuffling on his feet, "You mentioned some girl named Rose."

Daryl glared when the man brought Rose up, and he raised his crossbow pointing it at the man's head, making the other prisoners react, "Don't you even think about it buddy." Daryl growled out, "You make one move to get anywhere near any of the women and you're gonna get a shit ton of arrows in your ass."

"Whoa, what's going on in here?" Daryl heard Rick's voice but he didn't lower his weapon, not until Rick came over and did it himself, his hand on Daryl's shoulder.

"Ry here was just asking your man about some Rose girl." The large black man, Big Tiny, spoke up and Rick looked over at him, before back at the 'Ry' character.

"My group is off limits," Rick said quickly looking between the men, "We're going to help you clear out a cell block, but if any of you come anywhere near Cell Block C, or the yards, I will kill you."

҉

Daryl had been around criminals all his life, his father was a drug abusing asshole, and his brother had followed in his footsteps. But men like this, the type that killed in cold blood, and didn't give a single fuck about anything? That was new for him, and he wasn't exactly okay with it. He was in the back, keeping his eye on the asshole that had brought up Rose, wondering about him, what got him in here, why he seemed so familiar, and why he was interested in Rose. But before he could dwell in his thoughts any longer Rick caught his attention.

"Rose wants us to keep an eye out for an infirmary," He whispered to Daryl, both men noticing the man in front slow down just a bit, but thought nothing of it.

"Figures, her nursing skills really only go so far without the proper equipment and medicine huh." Daryl looked over at T-Dog when he spoke up, and he shrugged some.

"The girl can stitch up a wound faster than anyone I've ever met, what's a severed leg to her." Daryl said light heartedly, shaking his head as the other men chuckled a bit.

"I uh, notice you and Rose sneaking of last night." Daryl looked over at T-Dog, giving him a look that just made the man chuckle as he shook his head, before Daryl looked back ahead when the spic shoved his way passed pretty boy, earning a glare from a man before he clutched the pipe in his hand a bit tighter and kept going.

"Head up front T, keep an eye on the men." Rick whispered over to T-Dog, and he nods before making his way to the front of the line.

"Did you see the look on his face?" Daryl muttered quietly to look, glancing at him from the corner of his eye.

"He makes one move."

"Just give me a signal." Daryl said back, glancing back over at Rick, before they all made their way into what must have once been a laundry room, thinking to himself the girls would love all the detergent that lined the walls.

Daryl followed after Rick, hearing the hungry moans of the walkers on the other side of the door, glancing over at Rick who nodded at him before fishing the ring of keys from his back pocket and tossed it so it landed in front of the spic's feet, making him look down at it, them back at him.

"I ain't opening that." He said quickly, and Daryl looked over at Rick as he spoke.

"Yes you are," Rick didn't miss a beat, "You wanted this cell block, you're gonna open that door, just the one." Rick said, pointing to the door on the left, and Daryl raised his crossbow, getting ready for the geeks. "Not both of them, cause we need to control this."

Daryl took a few steps back, giving him enough range from the walkers, and watched as the spic tried to open the door, failing, saying something smart, tried again, failed, said something smart, until finally he pulled both doors open, letting in about a dozen walkers and hearing Rick shouting before the man answered with 'Shit happens'. Daryl moved fast, shoot, load, shoot, load. The process was easy, and he took out walkers left and right, getting one right before it got its hands on Rick. He noticed the spic take a swing at a walker that was close to Rick's face, Rick ducking just in time before the blade came in contact with him, but before Daryl could take out the walker making his way near the Hispanic man, he grabbed it and tossed it onto Rick, making the sheriff fall back, the goon on top of him groaning and snapping towards him, trying to get a bite out of him. Daryl took out a walker, then pushed the man out of the way and pulled the screw driver from his pocket and drove it into the geek's head, before gripping Rick's hand and pulled him up. The two both sprung back into action and took out the rest of the walkers alongside the prisoners, Daryl looking over the group one all the walkers were down, his eyes falling on Ry's who was glaring his way.

"It was coming at me bro," Daryl looked back to Rick as he stood across the man who had just tried to kill him, and Daryl glared, moving to point his cross bow at him.

"Yeah, Yeah I get it, I get it." Daryl watched carefully as Rick's hand tightened some on the machete he had borrowed from Rose, "Shit happens." Daryl hadn't expected Rick to do what he did, punch the man sure, but when Rick took the machete and brought the blade down on the man's skull his eyes widened.

"Easy now," Daryl took a step forward when the other black guy went to make a move after his friend Rick had decided to chase down the hall, "Get down on your knees." He snapped, motioning with his crossbow, watching as the man listened before looking over at Ry, who had a strange smirk on his face. "You too pretty boy, get the fuck down." He ordered and the man just chucked shaking his head.

"That what you said to Rosie?" He taunted and Daryl raised an eyebrow, taking a few steps towards him, so he was directly in front of him, his crossbow raised to his head.

"What the fuck did you say?" Daryl snapped and the man just smirked before hitting the crossbow out of his face, surprising Daryl before head butting him, causing Daryl to stumble back some before being tackled to the ground.

Daryl held an arm up before the fist came down to his jaw and he brought his knee up, before punching the man his side, and then returned the man's head butt, feeling the blood tricking down his nose, and his lip begin to swell as T-Dog pulled the man off him.

Daryl got to his feet, and pulled his gun out and pressed it against pretty boy's forehead who was knelt down in front of him, laughing.

"You can't kill me." He laughed out, looking up at Daryl when he cocked his gun.

"Why's that?" Daryl spat out, pressing his gun closer to the man's forehead, glaring down at him when he chuckled.

"Cause you've got my old lady and baby girl locked up in cell block C." He laughed, and Daryl narrowed his eyes, trying to understand what he meant. "Here's proof." The man reached into his pocket, and T-Dog snatched the piece of paper from his hands, the man's eyes widening as he looked at the picture, before handing it to Daryl.

Daryl's jaw tightened as he stared down at the picture, taking in the old photo, he knew those eyes, that smile, that beauty mark…That was Rose… That was his Rose holding Jamie, and the man in front of him had his arms wrapped around the girls, all three of them smiling back up at him. "Ryder Marks at your service fellas..."

_**Dum. Dum. DUMMM. Okay, so this is short… BUT I just really wanted to get this chapter up before TWD's new episode aired so I could be on schedule! I hope you all like it, and yes guys, Ryder is back…. But for how long? That is the question, let me know what you think and I'm really sorry if this chapter sucks.. Oh, also, the derogatory terms used in this chapter are not something I normally do… but I thought I'd use some Daryl racism to spice things up, and another thing, my dear friend Yasmin will be writing parts of later chapters because, two more characters are going to be introduced, and I know for a fact you will love them. DON'T FORGET TO REVIEW!_


	17. Civilian

҉

Rose paced back and forth in her cell where she and Jamie had spent most of the day, Daryl and the rest had come back… But she hardly got a chance to speak with him, he and Rick came straight in, dragging a prisoner who was spouting out muffled curses behind the gag that was placed in his mouth, and the bag over his head. T-Dog wouldn't let her enter the hall where they were, when she asked for Daryl all she'd get was a 'He'll be out in a moment'. She didn't understand what was happening, what all the secrecy was about, and now because of her angry outburst at T-Dog she was told to stay in her cell to cool off.

"You're leavin' tread marks the way you're pacin' like that angel." Rose turned at the sound of Daryl's gruff voice, and her eyes widened when she saw him. His right eye was blackened, his cheek was bruised, and his lip was busted.

"Mr. Daryl your face!" Jamie exclaimed as she hopped off her cot, and ran over to Daryl's side, letting him pick her up while Rose stared at him.

"That bastard made me uglier than usual huh?" He chuckled halfheartedly while Jamie gripped his face in her hands, turning his head to the side so she could look at the damage the convict had caused.

"You were never ugly Mr. Daryl." Jamie rolled her eyes as she looked at the cut on his lip frowning a little when he chuckled, "Why'd he hurt you?" She asked curiously, and Daryl bit the inside of his cheek looking down at the ground before clearing his throat.

"That's uh, well… He was angry." Daryl mumbled, shaking his head as he set Jamie back down, "why don't you give me a minute with your momma darlin'?"

Jamie pouted but nodded, and wrapped her arms around Daryl's legs making him run his hand over her head before she left the cell, off on her search for Carl while Daryl took a step towards Rose, who hadn't spoken a word since seeing his face.

"You okay Rosie?" Rose took in a breath, nodding quickly as she tried to regain her thoughts, and wiped at her eyes when she felt the tears threatening to slip out.

"M'fine, Just... I." Rose looked back at Daryl, noticing the confused look on his face… his bruised and swollen face, before his eyes widened when Rose let out a sob.

"Rosie, Rose, what's the matter? What is it?" Daryl took one stride forward, closing the distance between them and gripped the sides of her face when Rose started to sob, tears tricking down her cheeks.

"He… He could have killed you." Rose's words came out in a broken sob, and Daryl couldn't help but smile a little, "Why are you smiling? You could be dead right now! I could have lost you… Jamie could have lost you." She snapped, hitting his chest, making him laugh before wrapping his arms around her and press his lips to hers.

Rose kissed him back trying to stop her cries when he pressed his lips to hers over and over again, before pulling back to look at her, "I am fine Rose." He said, his eyebrows raised giving her a look that made her tears stop, "Nothing can kill me, I'm a Dixon."

Rose shook her head sniffling some while Daryl wiped the tears from her eyes, kissing her forehead, "What happened? Why wouldn't you let me in the hall?" She asked, looking back up at him as he pursed his lips.

"The… prisoners… The spic, he tried to kill us, kill Rick." Daryl explained slowly looking down at the ground, "Rick killed him… and then when he chased after one of the black ones, this fella attacked me… He uh, wanted something." He stuttered some, and Rose looked at him confused when he looked back at her.

"Wanted what? Why did you bring him back here? If he tried to kill you then we should kill him!" Rose was furious, that much was obvious, and Daryl couldn't quite understand why he found it so amusing. But he did, and he watched as the five foot four mother paced in front of him, her hands clenched into fists as she went on about how it was a mistake, a stupid decision on the men's part for bring the convict here, and Daryl wondered if she would keep that mind set when and if she found out just who that convict was. Ryder Marks – the father of her child, the man who she always talked shit about to Andrea and Lori whenever Jamie was asleep and Daryl was only an earshot away… He knew that the two parted on bad terms, that the man had got thrown into prison, and Rose had refused to pay his bail… But if she knew it was him, someone from her past, someone she was tied to on the account of having a child together… He was sure she'd drop him in a second for that pretty boy.

"Daryl, are you even listening to me?" Daryl looked up when Rose snapped her fingers in front of his face and he met her gaze, nodding quickly.

"Yup, he's a mistake, one that should be taken up with Rick… But for now i'ma need you to do as I say and stay the hell outta that hall got it?" He said quickly and Rose looked up at him, her eyes narrowed as she decided whether or not to follow his order, or do as she pleased…. But it was Daryl, and every time she when against what the man said she either ended up almost being walker chow, or limping for weeks.

"Fine." She grumbled, crossing her arms over her chest in defeat as Daryl's lips twitched, hiding a smile. "I still say we throw his ass out of here." She mumbled under her breath, letting Daryl push her out of the cell in front of him as they made their way down the stairs to where the others were, spotting Rick speaking to Jamie and Carl.

"You two stay in here alright? That area of the hall is off limits until I say so; you break the rule you're going to be punished." Rose smiled a little as she heard Rick lecturing the two children, Jamie looking up at Carl as he nods, accepting his father's rules. Jamie on the other hand, had a hand on her hip, her chin turned up, and a look on her face Rose knew all to well.

"Why can't we go into the hall? If the man is locked up then what's it matter what we do? We could talk to him… maybe he's friendly, he could be our friend… and he could shank people."

Rose heard Daryl laugh and she herself chuckled some, looking over at Rick who looked confused and shocked at the words that came out of the young girl's mouth, "Jamie, do you even know what you just said?"

Jamie pursed her lip, shifting her weight to her other foot as she shrugged, "I heard mommy say it to Daryl once… about prison movies… she said something about Mr. Daryl dropping soap to… and it made Daryl yell at her."

Rose wasn't able to contain her laughter anymore, and she looked over at Daryl who only stared at her, his jaw set as the woman laughed her ass off before taking a step towards her daughter, gripping her gently by her ponytail and pulled her head back so she'd look up at her, "No more repeating what I say." She laughed shaking her head as Rick stood up, smiling over at Rose as he shook his head.

"You two go play, "Rick said, pointing in the direction of T-Dog and Glenn and the children ran off, leaving the three adults alone. "Your daughter…"

"I know, I know." Rose chuckled, shaking her head as she watched Jamie skip over to T-Dog, and demanded for him to give her a piggy back ride. "She's a fire cracker that one." She mumbled, and the men nodded in agreement before turning to look at Lori as she waddled her way over, her hands on her large belly.

"Any of you hear anything from the girls?" Lori asked quietly, looking over at Rose as she shook her head slowly, then looked back towards Daryl and Rick, both men shaking their heads.

"It's been a day…" Rose said biting her lip ,"The crash wasn't that far… we should go out looking for them."

Rick nods, "Daryl, you think you can handle going out by yourself?" Rick asked quietly, and Rose's jaw dropped, about to argue when Daryl sent her a look, making her shut up.

"Yeah I'll be fine, I can bring those talkies we found if I get into any trouble." He said looking over at Rose as she pouted, "Keep an eye out for the girls… I'm sure they're just hauled up some place until a few walkers clear out."

"Yeah, Daryl you get your things together, then head out once I've spread the world around alright?" Rick said and Daryl gives Rick a nod before moving up to gather his belongings, Rose and Jamie following after him.

"You sure you should be going out there alone? I mean, I want to find Andrea and Michonne more than anyone here… But it's dangerous, and we can't afford to lose you too…. And I just got you back.. " Rose trailed off, looking away from Daryl as she went on slowly.

Daryl stopped his packing and turned to look at Rose as she hugged herself, not looking at him as she rambled and he reached over and put a hand on her arm, making her look up at him, "I'll be fine Rose, you know that already."

Rose frowns, but nods slowly, both her and Daryl looking down at Jamie when the little girl sighed, "What are you going to do about the man in the cell?" She asked craning her head back to look up at Daryl who pursed his lips.

"For now nothing darlin'," He says reaching down to grab his poncho and pulled it over his head, before slinging his pack and cross bow over either shoulder. "Rick's going to handle him while I'm gone, probably decide what to do with him while he's at it."

Rose groaned, "I hate not being able to go with you." She mumbled, wrapping one arm around herself, rubbing her dirty arm, trying to soothe herself as Daryl turned to her.

"Baby," Rose perked up a bit when she heard Daryl call to her in such a sweet way, and she bit her lip watching as he walked over, and put his hands on her shoulders, "I will be fine, you're safer here, with Jim Jam, and where you can't get yourself killed by hobbling to slow."

Rose smiled a little, shaking her head as she pushed against his chest playfully only to get her wrist caught in his firm grip, looking up at him as he brought her knuckles up to his lips, and pressed a kiss to her hand. "You be careful out there." She murmured, taking his cheek with her free hand, and ran her thumb along the cut there, frowning a little, "No more fights either."

Daryl smiles and nods, before cupping Rose's face in his hands and pressed his lips to hers, reviling in every second of it, like it be the last time he'd get to do it… but for all he knew it would be. Ryder was here, he obviously had some sort of hold on Rose, and Daryl was going out into the world where he could get killed… okay maybe not killed, but who knew. Rose was all he had in this world-Hell Rose and Jamie were his world, and he didn't know what he was going to do if he lost them. "Rose I…" Daryl trailed off, leaning his forehead against Rose's, and Rose smiled.

"I know Daryl," She murmured, and pressed her lips to his again, before standing on her tip toes to reach his ear, "I love you too." She whispered, before pulling away, leaving Daryl standing there, smiling weakly, "Which is why you got to get back to me…To us."

Daryl nods before pulling her back to him, and kissed her with more force, his hands tangling in her hair, not wanting to let her go, and Rose fought back just as hard, her hands moving up his chest, and bunched his poncho up in her fingers, pulling him down closer to her, and the couple was finally pulled apart when they heard someone clear their throat, and the sound of Jamie's gagging noises as she giggled with Carl, the couple turning to look at Rick who stood on the stairs.

"You ready to go?" Rick asked, putting a hand on Carl's shoulder who had a slight blush to his cheeks, shushing Jamie when she started to make kissy noises, and Rose smiled shaking her head before putting a hand on Daryl's arm, and motioned for him to go.

"Make it back before sun down," Rick said as they made their way out of the prison, Rose squinting up at the bright sun glaring down in her eyes, putting a hand on Jamie's head as they followed after the men and Carl, noticing the rest of the group filing out after them.

"The crash is towards the east," Rick said as he walked alongside Daryl, "Maybe only about a two or three hour drive." Daryl shakes his head, moving to mount his bike.

"More like a four or five hours," Daryl said as he looked up at Rick who nods, "You just keep that walkie on you and I'll let you know if anything goes wrong."

Rick smiles, and claps a hand onto Daryl's shoulder, everyone gathering around the motor cyclist, bidding their goodbyes as Rose stands to the side, watching as Daryl starts up the bike, glancing her way, a forlorn look on his face before driving through the gates T-Dog and Glenn had opened up, and shut after him.

Rose let out the small sigh she'd been holding in, and took a hold of Jamie's hand, the two girls walking back into the prison, both their heads and hearts full of worry, wondering what was going to happen if Daryl ran into trouble.

҉҉҉

The sun was hot beating down on Daryl's back as he made his way through the small abandoned ghost town, nothing but rotting unanimated corpses in his company, and a few birds twittering about, pecking the flesh from the bone of his company. He hadn't made sight of the girls yet, the trail was still going on, heading towards the crash, but there was no trail leading back the way they came, meaning either they ran into trouble, or have strayed to far into the woods. Daryl raised his bow at the sound of footsteps, looking around, his gaze moving over the buildings, seeing nothing, but he kept his guard up, and made his way further down the empty street, and into the woods where he was sure he'd either find the corpses of his friends, or the bastards that had tried to get in their way. He encountered a few live walkers, and took them out with no problem, gathering his bolts from their decayed skulls before making his way towards the smoking heap of metal. He noticed a few bodies scattered around, fresh kills, only alive maybe a day or so ago, and human too. He frowned as he crouched down, examining the tracks. There was a struggle, mostly males, and then two females… Michonne and Andrea. He shook his head, standing up slowly, knowing he was either going to have to travel further into the woods and into a fight he was sure to lose, or go back to the prison and give Rose the bad news. As Daryl decided which option he preferred, he heard hushed whispers, and footsteps crunching the leaves on the forest floor, and he spun around quickly, only being met with the sound of a young man shouting.

Daryl held up his crossbow, the safety that's never been on – off, as he stood his ground, staring at the boy who was flailing his arms and legs, yelling for him to stop.

"Will you shut up?!" Daryl exclaimed, confounded by the boy's rather fatuitous reaction. When he stopped jumping around, Daryl got a good look at the kid. Pale, tall, literally skin and bones. "What are you, fifteen?" Daryl asked with a roll of his eyes as he let his crossbow down, just a little.

"Twenty-two actually." The boy answered before he looked back, "Told ya he was clear." He called, not too loud for a walker to hear. Daryl lifted a brow and stepped aside, sighing once when he saw a girl stepping out from behind a few bushes she'd been crouching behind. Daryl looked back at the boy who tucked the girl into his side, and she peered up at Daryl with quizzical eyes, "You were hunting around the town's borders the other day. I thought you were one of them." She muttered with a frown.

"So you were the deer…I almost shot you." Daryl nodded in acknowledgment. "What were you doing out on your own?"

"Collecting herbs." She nodded and Daryl narrowed one eye, before deciding to talk to the boy instead. "What's your name, kid?"

"Logan. That's Johanna. Are you on your own?" Logan asked immediately, his face –despite the childish attributes—clad with a serious expression.

Daryl decided to take him seriously, and shook his head, "You on your own?" He asked, and Logan nodded this time, looking down at Johanna as he rubbed her arm, both of them looking like they had just lost someone important to them.

"We were with a group," He started choking up on his words, "My uh, family, a few friends but a heard came… we got over run." Daryl's face softened some, and he frowned nodding towards the boy, his way of letting him know he didn't have to go on. "We've been hiding here for a good two days now. We seen you get into that prison." Logan explained, "That's why we followed you here. We need in, we can't stay here forever. The walkers got us sniffed out."

Daryl stepped back, his brows shooting up in acknowledgement. "Is she gonna slow us down?" He asked as he gestured down at Johanna, who now collected and reloaded a couple of guns from the ground that had once belong to the dead soldiers from the helicopter. The petite girl shot him a startled glare as she picked up one of their bags and handed it to Logan, who shook his head, "You would've shot her if she was slow."

Daryl had to agree with her. She was too fast to be walker; that's why he thought she was a deer. But she moved too fast for his arrow to catch up with her. He nodded slowly, "Fine. Get your stuff, let's get back there, but I ain't promisin' the sheriff is gonna let you stay."

Daryl made his way through the woods towards the town the two had been staying at, stopping only to glance back at them, "Ya'll better not be playing me either," Daryl said quickly, his eyes narrowed as he stared at the two kids, "Because if you are I am perfectly capable of killing a pretty face and a sissy, so don't try anything." He warned before stomping back down the trail, Logan glaring at the back of his head.

"I'm not a sissy," He grumbled shaking his head as he took Johanna's hand, "You're the sissy, I'm the pretty face." He told his girl, Daryl rolling his eyes as he heard the two.

"You keep telling yourself that baby, whatever keeps you going." She laughs, and Daryl fights back a smile as he leads them towards the prison, to where they might be accepted.

҉

Rose was sitting at the picnic bench that the men had brought in from outside and cleaned up, where they had been eating most of their meals at, while she tried to re-read 'The Great Gatsby' one of the few books she'd been able to save from her car before she had to get rid of it. Jamie was off some place with Carl, the two playing some form of tag that they made up, and the rest of the group was off working on their daily chores or trying to entertain themselves.

Rose was just about to finish the book when the screams started up again, and she groaned, slamming her head against the her book as she listened to the convicts shouts for freedom that flooded through the room, echoing throughout the corridor, and etching into her mind. It been like this for hours now, and now no one was guarding the hall, no one to stop her from strutting through the door way, down the hall, and putting a bullet into the man's head. It's not like Rick would be to mad at her, if anything he'd just lecture her about obeying orders, like a father would do to his teenaged daughter… So Rose decided to take her chances.

Rose grabbed her colt from the table, and shut her book. She stood up quickly and gripped her gun in her hand before trotting down the hall, and into the corridor leading to the man's shouts, where his voice grew quieter at the sounds of footsteps.

Once Rose stood in front of the cell the man's shouts had stopped completely, and Rose raised her weapon, holding it up at the man's head, only seeing his silhouette in the shadows. "Either you shut the fuck up or I blow your brains out… You pick."

Rose didn't lower her gun when the man stepped forward, but her eyes widened some, frozen in place as the light from the hall shone on his face, revealing his features.

"You really know how to hold a grudge now huh Rosie?" Ryder's voice rung out in the hall and into her ears… how had she not known? How could she not recognize his shouts? "What? Cat got your tongue?"

Rose swallowed down the lump in her throat, "You… you should be dead." She whispered, and Ryder chuckled shaking his head as he scratched at his chin.

"Right, cause I was in prison back in Louisiana… but no, I was sent here about… two, three years ago? Not that you'd know or anything since you never checked up on me.."

Rose glared at him through the bars, feeling the few tears slipping down her face, "You know why I didn't check in." She murmured shaking her head, but before she could say anything more she heard a soft gasp.

"Daddy?" Rose turned quickly to look over at Jamie, who was standing beside Rose now, Carl only a few steps behind her. Rose looked back at Ryder, and watched as he smiled, tears filling his eyes as he crouched down, gripping on the bars so hard his knuckles where white, and pressed his face in between the metal bars.

"Yeah baby," He whispered his voice cracking some, "It's me, it's daddy." Rose put a hand over her mouth, and closed her eyes as she listened to Jamie whisper things to her father, who spoke back, his voice full of unshed tears, and before Rose got the chance to explain things to Jamie Rick can bounding down the hall, his eyes wide as he examined the scene.

"Rose," Rick started but she shook her head, looking up at the sheriff, her eyes glassy.

"Did he know?" She asked, raising one of her eyebrows as she clutched onto the ends of her shirt, looking up at Rick who bit his lip, "Daryl did he know who he brought here? Is that why they fought?"

"He overheard T-Dog asking Daryl about you two sneaking off the other night," Rick whispers glancing over at Ryder as he stood up slowly, his eyes finally leaving Jamie's now, "He said something to Daryl, pissed him off… then they fought… From what T told me Daryl didn't find out who he was until after the fight."

Rose nods slowly looking back over at Ryder, "Why did you bring him here?" She asked, earning a glare from Ryder before looking back over at Rick, "Why bring him here so he could find us? Why not leave him with the other prisoners?"

Rick shrugged, "Daryl wanted to bring him here…. to… to let you and Jamie decide what to do with him…" Rose sighed, and ran her hand through her hair.

"Let him out then," She grumbled looking down at Jamie as her eyes widened, a smile growing on her daughter's face.

"You sure about that Rose?" Rick asked, and Rose nods taking Jamie's hand in hers.

"Ryder ain't gonna hurt anyone, he's an asshole, a druggie, and a thief." She starts looking back over at Rick, "But he isn't a murderer."

Rick frowns looking over at Rose as she keeps a hold on Jamie, "Will keep him out in the yard for now," Rick says as he pulls the keys from his pocket, "Give you a chance to talk to your girl."

"No, wait, mommy, can't daddy just say with us and Mr. Daryl?" Jamie asked looking up at Rose who shook her head.

"No Jamie, he can't." She says pulling Jamie closer to her, "In fact, Ryder… I want you to tell Jamie right now what you did." She says looking over at Ryder, "Tell her what you did, the night you ran off with our money."

_Halloween in New Orleans was always one of Rose's favorite holidays, everyone got into the spirit, everyone decorated the house, people parties in the streets, passed out candy to the children, it was just beautiful. This year was especially great; because it was the first Halloween she'd spend with her daughter. Rose walked into the living room in her small studio apartment smiling when she saw Jamie crawling around after their small kitten, Murphy. _

"_Are you trying to get the kitty?" Rose called out, smiling when she caught her daughter's attention, the one year old looking over at her mother, her little red and black polka dotted wings bouncing as she moved to sit on her bottom, holding her hands up. "Nu uh baby girl, you gotta walk to me."_

"_Mommy," Rose chuckled when Jamie spoke, so far the little girl had at least a 20 word vocabulary, consisting of a numerous of ways to say mother, kitty, and milk… She could even say dada, not that she used it quite often._

"_Come on Jamie, walk to mommy." Rose said crouching down, grinning when Jamie stood up on her wobbly legs, and hurried her way over to Rose, who caught her with ease and picked her up, spinning her around._

"_You ready to go trick or treating?" She asked, smiling when Jamie nodded, wrapping her hands in her mother's hair, "Say bye to the kitty, say bye Murphy." _

"_Bye kitty," Jamie called out as Rose laughed, and made her way to the door, but before she got a chance to open it the door swung open, almost hitting Rose in the process, and the loud clash it made with the wall scaring the cat, and causing Jamie to cry._

_Rose looked quickly at who at swung her door open, and she glared, spotting a very waster Ryder Marks making his way into the studio apartment, his hands trembling as he walked over to the kitchen area. "Rose, Rosie, baby, I need money." He said, his words slurring together, and Rose shook her head, and closed the door, walking into the kitchen, watching as Ryder went through the drawers, and cabinets._

"_What for this time?" She asked, patting Jamie's back as her daughter sucked her thumb, watching as her father hurried around the kitchen saying, calling out 'dada' a few times._

"_I uh, I uh owe some money to my dealer," Ryder said turning to look at Rose, biting his lip as he glanced at Jamie who raised her head to look at him, smiling a bit when he heard her say 'dada', "She can talk now?"_

"_Are you high right now?" Rose asked quickly, ignoring his question, "I don't have any money to give you Ryder… All I have is the money I've been saving for Jamie's school."_

"_School? She's one; she doesn't need school… just give me that money." Ryder said quickly, holding his arms out, like he wanted to hold his daughter and Rose shook her head._

"_No, that's Jamie's money… I'm sending her to St. Margret's school for the gifted… it's preschool through high school." Rose said quickly, "The younger I can get her in… the less I'll have to pay for her as she gets older."_

_Ryder laughed, "St. Margret's? Isn't that where I sprung you from?" He asked scratching the back of his head, "Man, our girl don't need to be sent to some school for rich snobs, send her to public school like her daddy, it ain't that bad."_

_Rose chuckled humorlessly, "'Ain't that bad', well we see what good it did you, shooting up crack every chance you get." Rose commented, nodding towards his bruised arms, making Ryder glare._

"_Just… let me hold my baby, and you go get the money.. Please Rose, he's gonna kill me."_

_Rose stared at Ryder, swallowing down the lump in her throat as she clutched Jamie closer to herself, and shook her head slowly, "Get out of my home Ryder."_

_Ryder stared at her for a moment, before shaking his head, "Rosie, I just… I need some money, please, I just need a bit, just enough to get me through." _

_Rose raised an eyebrow, "Get you through? I thought you needed money to pay back your dealer?" Rose snapped taking a few steps away from Ryder as he came closer to her, his shakiness getting more noticeable, his sunken in eyes, "You're crashing aren't you? You need money to go get more drugs?" _

_Rose glared over at Ryder as he looked down at the ground, nodding slowly, "I just need a little bit… Just enough to get me through the week, then I can… I can sober up like I promised, and we can be a family, you me and little Jammy." He said looking back over at Rose as she shook her head, and she bit her lip looking away._

"_Ryder… I have to go." She whispered, "St. Margret's… They're doing this Halloween thing, where everyone part of the parish goes trick or treating… you're making us late." She said looking back up at him, "I want you gone by the time we're back."_

_Rose had left, expecting Ryder to leave right after her, but when she got home, Jamie asleep in her arms, and a huge bag of candy slung over her shoulder, she cried… Their home, the place she'd worked so hard to make perfect was trashed… some of her belongings were gone, and when she made her way into the room, the safe she'd been keeping Jamie's money in was wide open, with only a few of the legal documents spread out across the floor._

Rose pulled herself from her memories, and swallowed back the tears, "You stole from me… from Jamie." She said looking over at Ryder, "You trashed our place… Tore up our furniture, you stole the money for Jamie's school Ryder, all so you could go get high with a bunch of friends." She laughed brokenly, a few more tears slipping down her cheeks. "I want you to stay away from me…stay away from Jamie…Until…Until I think things through." She said, gripping on to Jamie's hand tighter.

"Mommy, daddy's different now! Daddy wants me," Rose shook her head as Jamie began to cry, and Rose picked her up, despite Jamie wanting down, wanting to stay, Rose just kept walking, ignoring the shouts of Ryder who called after his daughter and Rose, and ignoring Jamie's chants of 'Daddy wants me now'

҉

Daryl crouched down behind a tree, glancing at the prison gates that were lined with walkers, shushing the two bimbos that came bounding up behind him, lowering his hand so they'd crouch down beside him.

"How do you get in?" Logan whispered, moving so he was closer to Daryl, and Daryl pointed to the opening in the gate that was wired up, trying to spot his people, but he could only see two figures in the distance, both being much to far out to notice him and his company.

"You guys got to stay right behind me, and if any of these things get close take them out, but no fire arms." He said giving the girl a look as she went to cock a gun, watching as she frowned. "Noise draws their attention, you guys got to be aware of that by now."

"Yeah we're aware, but with a place like this, do you really have to worry?" Logan asked, his eyes bright as he skimmed the fences of the prison, the walls, the security of it.

"You always have to worry, if you don't, you get killed." Daryl muttered before moving to stand some, tilting to his head, and took off towards the fence.

"Is he crazy?" Logan whispered angrily as he looked at the huge crowd of walkers that surrounded the quick moving man, his eyes widening when he noticed Johanna was no longer beside him, but cover the man's rear, "Jo! Oh god." He groaned and chased after her, reaching for the screw driver that was in his pocket.

Daryl took out three ugly skanks that were lining the opening of the fence, and once he reached them he took his arrows back, turning to see the small girl with doe eyes talking out one of the geeks that was at least half her size, her boyfriend closing in behind her, looking around nervously, obviously upset with her for putting herself in danger. "Come on you two." Daryl whispered as he started to untie the wires, and quickly held the fence up for them, before going in himself, glancing around as Logan helped him tie it back up.

"They're not gonna shoot at us are they?" Logan asked as Daryl led them down hallway like area between the two fences, and Daryl shook his head.

"Doubt it," Daryl muttered, looking up at the watch tower where Rose or Glenn were probably placed at the keep an eye on the yard, "A bunch may come greet us though, I was sent out to get two gals, and I'm returning with two kids." He said walking over to the gate, nodding when T-Dog appeared out from behind the tower.

"You're back," He greeted as he opened the gate, stopping once he saw the two kids, "That ain't Andrea or Michonne."

"Yeah, I noticed." Daryl said walking through the gate once it was open, stopping when the two kids followed, "Anything I should know before going in there?"

T-Dog nods slowly, "Well uh, Rose knows… about the prisoner." Daryl sighed, nodding slowly as he moved to close the gate behind him, giving the two kids a look when they started to shout.

"This is just precaution; I'm about to call the sheriff up on my walkie, get him and the rest of the group out here." He says, pulling the walkie talkie from his pack.

"Yo, Rick, I've made it back." Daryl said as he held down the button on the side of the radio, letting go of it, and waited for the reply.

"Did you find the girls?" Rick's voice echoed out of the small machine, and Daryl glanced over at the shivering survivors, sighing before holding the button down again.

"No, but I found two stragglers, one male, a lanky mother fucker, and a girl, real innocent looking thing… They need a safe place to stay."

The air fell silent other than the moans coming from the walkers, and the chattering of teeth, Daryl bit his lip as he waited for the sound of Rick's voice again, looking up at T-Dog he shrugged some, "I'll be out there in a minute, take a look at them." Rick's voice finally flooded the air, and Daryl nods before looking over at the kids, who looked relieved.

Daryl shoved the radio back in his pocket and leaned against the fence, looking over at T-Dog, "Is Rose pissed?" He asked quietly, hoping the two kids wouldn't eavesdrop, but knew they would.

"I'm not sure… she's not said a word to anyone since dragging Jamie away from him… She's been up there all night." T-Dog said, pointing up at the tower, and Daryl nods slowly, "She'll pop a few walkers with the sniper now and again… I think she's practicing her aim… or taking out anger." He chuckles and Daryl groaned, knowing that if anything Rose was imaging those walkers were either him, or Ryder.

"What about Jamie? Is she alright?"

"She's pissed at Rose, hasn't been looking her in the eye, she's inside with Rick and Lori, spending more time with them than Rose… Ryder's locked up in the tower down there." T-Dog said, pointing to the tower on the opposite end of the yard, "Rick's got him there until Rose tells him to let him be part of the group or kick him out."

Daryl nods slowly, wondering to himself if he should have just killed of Ryder while he had the chance.. taken Rose and Jamie for his own, and not have put Rose through whatever she was going through now… maybe it would have been better that way. Before Daryl had a chance to answer his own internal questions the watch tower door opened up, revealing Rose, washed up, and only in a denim mini skirt, a tattered blue Christmas sweater, and her hair braided to the side. They met eyes for a moment when the rest of the group showed up, Rick in the front with Carl and Jamie on either side of him.

"This them?" Rick asked as Daryl stepped out of the way of the sheriff, nodding as Rick stepped in front of the two kids. "How'd you know about us?" Rick asked quickly, and Logan looked over at Daryl, quietly asking for help at the man's harsh voice, but Daryl just nods.

"We… We saw you get into the prison." Logan started, taking a hold of Johanna's hand. "We saw your two girls go out… and we were going to ask them to take us back… but a bunch of men took them."

Rick narrowed his eyes, "What men?" He asked quickly, and Logan shrugged, squeezing onto Johanna's hand some as he held onto the fence.

"We don't know them… they just, they came, and they took them… we didn't stick around to find out." He whispered, "Look man… I know it's hard to trust people now… Believe me I know… But I just, my entire family was just killed… maybe four days ago… Johanna is all I have left…. And where we were staying… It wasn't safe, the walkers knew where we were… If Daryl hadn't brought us here we would have been dead… please just, let us stay…. I swear to you we won't hurt anyone, we won't steal… and we'll help out… I can hunt, and I was in med school before all this happened… I could help out." Daryl noticed Rose perk up some when they boy mentioned med school, and Rick's face soften some when he told them about his family.

"I think they should stay," Rose said, crossing her arms over her chest as she looked over at Rick, who met her gaze, "There just kids… and there's only two of them… they could help us out a lot Rick." She said shrugging some and Rick looked around the group, collecting votes and ideas… all of which agreed with letting the kids in.

"Alright then," Rick said, "You two can stay… but you won't be stay in our cell block at first, we'll find you a place to stay, until we can be sure you're trust worthy." Rick said as he opened the gate, Logan and Johanna both grinning as they entered, and introduced themselves to the group. Eventually everyone migrated back in, and Daryl stood alone with Rose, who hadn't moved from her spot in front of the watch tower door, that sniper slung over her back, her arms crossed over her chest.

"You should have flat out told me Daryl," Rose said making Daryl turn and look at her, the expression on her face unreadable. Daryl didn't say anything, he just stared at her, watching as she chewed on the inside of her cheek, tapped her foot nervously on the ground before taking a step towards him and wrapped her arms around his neck, surprising him.

"You're not mad," He whispered, as he slowly wrapped his arms around her waist, pulling back to look down at her, and she smiled as she shook her head.

"Not mad at you… Just, at the fact Ryder is here." She murmured, glancing back at the tower he was in, "He isn't going anywhere either, Jamie's seen him… she's going to hate me forever if I make him leave." She said sadly, looking back up at Daryl. "What do you think I should do?"

Daryl grew quiet as he moved to stand on his own, but didn't let go of Rose's hand, both staring towards the watch tower Ryder was locked up in, "Let him stay…" He said, looking back at Rose, "Jamie… she deserves to get to know her father….and it's not like he can run away with your money, you don't have any… and there's no drugs for him to get addicted too." He muttered and Rose nods slowly.

"He's going to be an ass to you, you know." She said, and Daryl chuckles, pulling her back over to him, and held onto her hips.

"Oh I know, I'm perfectly aware… but I'm not letting him anywhere near you." Daryl murmured as he pressed his lips to hers, and Rose smiled kissing him back slowly, running her fingers along the back of his neck before pulling back some, smirking.

"You know what we haven't done lately?" She whispered biting her bottom lip as she glanced up at the watch tower, and Daryl quirked an eyebrow.

"Doesn't Glenn have next watch?" Daryl asked, and Rose nods taking a step backwards again, pulling him back with her.

"We've got a good twenty minutes before he relieves me of my duty, let's go make it count."

_Okay so, yes, it's been awhile! But I'm back! Since The Walking Dead went on hiatus I can update all the chapters on time hopefully! I hope you all liked this one, don't forget to review!_


	18. Daddy's Back

҉

Rose stood outside of the watch tower, chewing on her bottom lip as she leaned her head against the cool stone bricks of the wall, sighing to herself as she glances around the field, squinting from the bright sun shining in her eyes. It had been just two days since she discovered Ryder was still alive, and today was the day she was being forced to choose his fate… Let him stay, or make him go. It would have been an easy choice, if she didn't have Jamie to worry about that is… But she did, and she couldn't do that to her daughter… the little girl who has been dying to meet her real father since the day she realized she had one.

Rick had let Ryder out of the tower for a few hours, and Rose was keeping an eye on him, he was across the field from her, staring at the fenced off area where Jamie was playing with Carl… She knew Ryder well enough to know when he was lying, he wanted to be with his daughter, she was all he had… But Rose just couldn't trust it. Ryder had a knack for making a commitment then bailing on it, it was who he was, who he had always been. But things were different now, they knew eventually they would all die, and Rose knew that Ryder wanted to make it last with Jamie.

"Rosie," Daryl walked up towards Rose, making her look away from Ryder to the man in front of her, and she gave him a small smile pushing off of the wall so she stood up straighter in front of him.

"Brought you some breakfast," Daryl said handing her a granola bar, and a bottle of water, "It's not much." He spoke quietly, glancing over at Ryder who had his eyes on them now, his expression unreadable from such a distance away.

Rose took the food from him, smiling again as she moved to sit on the ground, leaning back against the wall, patting the hard dirt beside her for Daryl to take his place at her side while she ate her food. "How are your little minions?" She teased before taking a bite from the granola bar, looking over at Daryl as he rolled his eyes.

"Rick's got Logan checking out the doc's leg, and Johanna's been watching over Carl and Jambo." Daryl said, and Rose nods slowly, "They seem to be getting along here well… They're just kids so I don't see anything turning out so bad."

"I like them," Rose admits once she was done chewing, "Jo is a sweetheart, and Logan's a med student, so I love him." Rose gave a small shrug, making Daryl chuckle some as he leaned his head back against the wall.

"Rose, I… I don't mean to be sticking my nose in your business," Daryl started chewing on the inside of his cheek as he glanced over at her, "But what exactly do you plan on doing with the pretty boy?"

Rose sighed, giving a small shrug as she swallowed down some of her water, "It is your business Daryl, you're with me now… and Ryder is imposing." She mumbled to herself, glancing over at him as he raised an eyebrow, "He's the jealous type, and if I let him stay… things are going to be difficult between the two of you… and me." She shook her head as she set the bottle down, pressing her hand against her forehead as she fought back a headache. "But if I make him leave… Jamie will hate me."

Daryl nods slowly, he was biased on the situation, but he didn't think Ryder should stay, and not just because he was afraid of the jackass somehow weaseling his way back into Rose's heart, no, he knew that if he were to stay he'd just make things worse on the group as a whole… and if Jamie got close to him, and the bastard got himself killed, it kill the girl… "You should talk to him...Make him see things your way," Rose nods again, her hand going to Daryl's and he pulled her hand up, pressing his lips to the back of it, "You need to talk to Jamie too." He murmured against her skin, letting her lean against her shoulder when she sighed.

"I've tried; she refuses to even look at me." Rose sighed, closing her eyes as Daryl nods a bit, before standing up, pulling Rose up with him.

"Here," He murmured and pulled a pack of Marlboro Reds from his back pocket, seeing her smile a bit as he placed them in her hand, "You relax, and I'll go talk to Jambo." He said brushing her bangs from her face before pulling her lips to his, kissing her slowly.

"Mm," Rose hummed against his lips, smiling a bit before pulling back, "I love you Daryl Dixon." She said, running her fingers along his jaw as he gave her that small smile, before walking off towards where the others were, leaving Rose alone with her cigarettes.

Rose pulled out one of the cigarettes from the pack, setting them to the side before lighting up, inhaling deeply, not minding the fact they were stale, but relishing in the small, relaxing high they gave her before exhaling. Rose bit her lip as she stood up, glancing towards Daryl's figure going towards the fenced off court yard, then to Ryder who was down the field, staring up at the sky.

"God damn it," She muttered to herself before standing up quickly and slung her rifle over her back before trotting over to the side of the field where Ryder was, seeing him turn at the sound of her footsteps. "We need to talk."

"Yeah," Ryder crossed his arms over his chest, staring at her intently as he looked her over from head to toe, stopping to meet her eyes, "we do."

"Why'd you attack Daryl?" She asked first, placing the cigarette back between her lips as he rolled his eyes.

"Heard your men asking him about you, ya'll two sneaking off together, got jealous."

"You haven't seen me in years," She spat out, flicking the ash from her cigarette as she shook her head, "You could have killed him."

Ryder chuckled shaking his head, "Time don't stop love baby." He teases taking a step forward and she shakes her head, pulling away, "Rose… Rosie."

"Don't call me that," Rose said dropping her cigarette as she stared up at him, "Ryder, I do not love you, not anymore, and I… I need you to leave, you have to leave."

"I want to be with my daughter," Ryder snapped back stepping closer to Rose so they were face to face, "You kept her from me, you didn't visit, I wrote you letters Rose... I called you, I even begged your damn daddy to get you to come see me, and you never did. It's your fault she never got to meet me."

Rose barked out a laugh, shaking her head as she put her hands on her hips, "My fault? It's my fault you did too much crystal and landed yourself in jail? It's my fault you had to literally be locked up before you actually realized you have a family you could have loved? No, it's not my fault Ryder, it's your fault. You were never there!" Rose yelled, closing her eyes as she felt the tears coming, putting her hand over her mouth, turning her head away.

"Rose," Ryder stepped back shaking his head slowly, "I want to make it up to her… with the little time we all have left, I just want to know her, please, please just let me get to know my baby."

Rose took in a shaky breath, nodding slowly as she turned to look at him, wiping the tears from her cheeks.

"Okay."

Daryl pulled at the strap of his crossbow, nodding over at Logan who was leaning against one of the picnic benches, watching as Johanna chased Jamie around, Carl walking over to greet Daryl.

"Did Rose decide what she wants to do yet?" Carl asked curiously, looking up at Daryl as he shook his head, "I tried talking to Jamie, tried to convince her that her dad was a bad man, but she just got mad at me."

Daryl sighs nodding slowly as he tips the boy's hat down, "its okay, I'll talk to her."

Carl nods, fixing his hat before going over to sit by Logan while Daryl lets out a single toned whistle, getting the girl's attention, "Can I steal Jambo from you Jo?" Daryl asked, and Johanna smiled, nodding before pushing Jamie off in the direction of Daryl.

"Am I in trouble Mr. Daryl?" Jamie asked as she sluggishly walked to him, and he shakes his head before glancing back towards the fences, panicking a bit when he didn't see Rose where he left her, before spotting her beside Ryder.

"No you're not in trouble; I just want to talk to you." He said and heads off towards the field, making her follow in his wake.

"Talk about what?" Jamie pulled at the end of her braid, and Daryl stopped once they were far enough away from wandering eyes.

"About how you're treating your mother." He said and Jamie looked away, obviously feeling guilty. For a seven year old Daryl could never quite understand how she was so mature, though he was sure it was her mother's doing, "You know she's really upset you're not talking to her right?"

Jamie nods slowly wiping her runny nose with her sleeve, "I just… I just want to know my daddy." She says looking up at him, "I love momma, and I love you… But I just want him to stay."

Daryl nods slowly pulling Jamie to him when she started to cry, "Come on Jamie, let's go find your mom… and dad." The words felt strange to say, her dad, Jamie's dad, not him. He wasn't her dad, he knew that, he always did but he felt like her dad, and now Ryder was here.

Daryl lead Jamie over towards the towers, where Rose was now walking away from Ryder, and to Rick who waited by the gate leading out.

"So," Rose said, glancing down at Jamie who gave her a tiny smile before looking behind her at Ryder, who stood a few feet away, "I've decided what to do with Ryder." Rose says, and Rick nods, glancing over at Daryl as he glanced down at the ground.

"Ryder is willing to commit to being a capable member of this group," Rose said, noticing Jamie's face brighten, "He's agreed to not cause any trouble, and to contribute… in order to stay with Jamie."

Rick's jaw tightened a bit, glancing over at Daryl who nods, "He's steps one foot out of line, he's gone." Rick said and Rose nods.

"That's what I told him," She said quietly looking over at Daryl who meets her eyes, but there was something about the way he looked at her that worried her, "Jamie… Your daddy wants to talk to you." Rose says, looking over at Jamie who smiles before running over to Rose and jumped in her arms.

"I'm sorry I was mean to you mommy," She whispered while Rose wrapped her arms around her, pressing her lips to her cheek.

"It's okay baby," Rose murmured, looking over at Daryl who nods in her direction, then headed back towards the prison with Rick, leaving the family alone. "Come on, let's go talk to Ryder."

Rose set Jamie down, and watched as Jamie took off in the direction of her father, who had knelt down just in time for Jamie to tackle him to the ground, seeing him fall onto his butt while Jamie sobbed in her arms. Rose wasn't sure if what she was doing was right, to let Jamie fall in love with Ryder's charms. She knew the man well enough, she didn't trust him, but she just couldn't break her daughter's heart. She couldn't.

_I actually kind of hate this chapter, because I hate Ryder. BUT it needed to be done for reasons you will witness in the future, so here's this short, filler chapter. And be warned, there will be angst lots of it, and sex, so there's a plus._


	19. To Whom it Make Concern

҉

It was about nine in the morning, the sun shone through the dirty windows, the dust particles dancing in the sleepy air as the survivors in the prison slowly woke up, ready to brace the day that was to come. Rose was in her bunk, still sleeping soundly as Daryl snuck in, smiling as he saw Jamie shuffling around the room, in search of what must have been her boots.

"You go down and get some breakfast from Lori," Daryl said, glancing around before spotting her little boot in the corner of the room, "Let me wake your momma up." Daryl said as he snatched the boot up and handed it to her, ruffling the little girl's hair as she giggled, making kissy faces before running out of the cell.

Daryl set his crossbow down on the table in the cell, and made his way over to Rose, who was sound asleep. Rose was a beautiful woman; there was no doubt to that with her curvy figure, soft curls, and full lips… But Daryl's favorite thing about Rose was how she slept, with her mouth agape, and eyelashes touching her cheeks, soft snores falling from her lips as she clutched her pillow to her chest, her legs curled up into her stomach. He carefully sits down beside her, being sure not to wake her while slowly puling her sheet off of her, biting back a laugh when he saw that she was wearing one of Rick's over-sized police shirts, that she had most likely stole, and pajama bottoms with cats all over them.

"Rosie," Daryl whispered her name, his hand going to her ankle, feeling her tense up a bit at his touch, "It's time to wake up." He said now, moving his hand up her calf, noticing her roll her bottom lip into her mouth, trying to hide her smile. "I know you're awake." He said, moving a bit closer to her as his hand made its way up her thigh, and to her hip where he pulled her bottoms down just a bit, revealing that Japanese looking tattoo on her hip he had discovered a few nights prior.

"Mmm, no I'm not." Rose hummed out, her eyes still closed, and Daryl rolled his eyes, smiling a bit as he leaned over, pressing his lips to her cheek.

"Are you not?" He played along, moving so he was over top of her, hearing her giggle a bit before pulling her pillow over her head to hide herself, "Guess since you're asleep you won't feel this." He teased, his hand sliding up her shirt, feeling her twist a bit underneath him when his fingertips brushed against the side of her breast. "Or this." He leaned down, pressing his lips to her collarbone, biting down gently, hearing a muffled moan from underneath the pillow. "What was that?" He asked, his hand moving back down her torso, tracing the line above her waistband, smirking when she squirmed underneath him. "Rosie, come on." He leaned down, pressing his lips to her shoulder as he slid his hand into her pants, hearing her gasp when she felt his fingers touch her over her underwear, and before he knew it she had grabbed his face and forced her lips on his.

"Wake me up like this every morning," She moaned in between kisses, one of her hands tugging on his hair while the other slid down to his hand, stopping him from pulling it from in between her legs.

"Everyone's awake," He muttered, feeling himself getting harder when she whimpered against his lips, "They'll hear you." He rasped out, sucking at her bottom lip before laying her back on the bed, his lips going to her neck, biting and sucking at the little spots that made her moan.

"I'll be quiet," Rose rasped out, her hips moving up, trying to get closer to Daryl's hand, "I promise." She was begging him, and Rose knew that would get to him, she could feel that it was getting to him against her thigh.

"You're never quiet," Daryl smirked against her skin, popping a few of the buttons on her shirt open, moving his lips down her sternum, his free hand going to her thigh, pulling it over his hip so he could press himself against her, and she moaned out, "See."

"Fuck, please Dixon." She practically growled, pulling his head back by his hair, making him wince a bit as she looked at him, "Just a quick one, I'll bit my tongue, or you, whichever you prefer." She kinked an eyebrow at him, and Daryl laughed before crashing his lips to hers.

Just as Rose was getting what she wanted someone cleared their throat, causing Daryl to let out a low growl, pulling away from Rose who pouted, muttering curse words under her breath as they both looked to the doorway, to see a smirking Ryder.

"Oh for Christ sakes, I can't take this." Rose snapped as she threw herself out of the bed, adjusting the shirt she wore and threw down her pajama bottoms in between her curses, in search of her jeans. Daryl noticed Ryder tilt his head to the side when she bent over, obviously checking her ass out, and he cleared his throat sending the pretty boy a look before the man smirked

"Rose, you share this room with our daughter," Ryder started, pushing himself off the cell door as he smiled at her while she pulled a pair of jeans on, "Try not to whore it up." Daryl had to hold onto the edge of the bed to keep him from jumping up and beating the shit out of the pretty boy, but Rose just laughed shaking her head as she tucked the oversized police shirt into her pants, before turning to look at him. "Oh, and Dixon, she really loves it rough, can't even tell you how many times she forced me to bend her over a table." With that Daryl was up, and Rose had to quickly step in the way of the men as Ryder laughed loudly holding his hands up while Daryl spat out angry curses.

"You better watch your damn mouth!" Daryl spat out, and Ryder chuckled shaking his head, watching as Rose placed a hand on Daryl's chest, trying to calm him down.

"Hey man, I'm just helping a brother out, I mean I did have her first after all, I know all the tricks." He smirked, glancing back at the Sherriff who had come to inspect the ruckus they had caused.

"Everything okay up here?" Rick asked, and Rose nodded quickly, pushing Ryder back so she could get out of the room, making her way over to Rick who was inspecting her shirt that had his name written in it, "That's mine."

"Yes it is. I'm borrowing it." She said with a bored voice and Rick just smiled some, "Come on Dixon." Rose snapped, irritated with Ryder, and Daryl glared at the man before shoving past him, adjusting himself in his pants when no one was looking and followed Rose down the stairs.

Rose knew this was going to happen, she knew that Ryder was going to try and butt into her relationship with Daryl, and now on top of being incredibly horny, she was pissed.

"Mommy," Rose heard Jamie's voice and she glanced towards the Grimes' cell, smiling when she spotted Jamie sitting on the floor beside Carl and Johanna, "Ms. Carol and Mrs. Lori said breakfast should be done soon, but look what Jo-Jo gave me!"

Rose made her way over to Jamie, inspecting the object in her hands before her eyes widened, "Is that a chocolate bar?" Rose looked over at Johanna who laughed, "You have chocolate bars?" She looked at her surprise, and hope in her voice, and when Johanna pulled a milk chocolate and almond Hersey bar from her bag, Rose practically melted.

"I have never been so turned on in my life," Rose said as she gingerly took the chocolate bar handed to her afraid it would turn to dust in her hands.

"Well I'm glad I'm the one to help turn you on," She laughed, and Rose smiled at her before unwrapping the chocolate.

"I've died and gone to heaven, god, this has made my morning, thank you Johanna, I love you, I could seriously kiss you right now."

"I am okay with this, in fact," Rose jumped a bit at the sound of Logan's voice and she turned to see the young man moving to lean against the wall, trying to get comfortable, "Start, now."

"Ew, you want my mommy to kiss your girlfriend?" Jamie made a face shaking her head as the adults laughed.

"What about Rose making out with another woman?" Daryl had snuck up just in time, and Rose smirked glancing over at him, "Is that chocolate?" Daryl asked, and Rose grinned nodding quickly.

"Johanna is the best thing to happen to this group since the time you fell in the river," Rose said quickly, "No not the time you almost died, the second time, where I pushed you." She explained herself quickly, and took a bite out of her chocolate, smiling innocently as Daryl glared.

"What's going on over here?" Rick's voice rang into the group, and Jamie stood up quickly, smiling up at the sheriff.

"Well, Joey gave my mommy chocolate which turned my mommy on and then Mr. Logan said he wanted my mommy to kiss Joey, and then Mr. Daryl came over, and momma made fun of him for falling into the river, but not the time he died, the time she pushed him in." Jamie's mouth never ceased, and when she finally finished she let out a breath, everyone staring down at the little girl, "Wait, what's it mean to be turned on?" With that laughs filled the room, and everyone tried to leave to avoid the awkward question, Rose stuffing her mouth with chocolate.

"You take this one babe," Rose said her mouth full of chocolate, her cheeks puffed out, reminding Daryl of a chipmunk.'

"You're so attractive," He joked and Rose gives him a toothless smile.

"I'm aware," She said, bumping him with her hip playfully, the mood ruined when Ryder came over, Jamie grinning when she saw him.

"Daddy," Daryl frowned a bit, he had to get used to that, "Did you sleep okay? Are Oscar and Axel nice?"

Rose turned her head, glancing back at Ryder who smiled down at Jamie, taking her hand in his, "Yeah, sort of." He started before walking away, leaving Daryl and Rose alone.

"You going to share that cho-"

"Fuck no," Rose said quickly as she walked away, and Daryl watch as she made her way over to Lori, and flopped down beside her, glancing back at Daryl as he stared at her, smiling when she winked over at him.

Daryl made his way over to Rick well the women finished preparing the food, "I'm thinking it's about time for another supply run." Daryl said as he leaned against the wall by Rick, the sheriff nodding in agreement, "Can take Rosie with me, she's in need of some exercise for that ankle of hers, maybe Glenn."

"Yeah, that sounds good; I'm thinking you should take Ryder instead." Rick said now, turning to Daryl when he shook his head, "Gives you the chance to 'rough' him up a bit, and he's been locked up in this prison, he needs some training, might as well be done by you and Rosie." Rick shrugged and Daryl sighs before nodding.

"Yeah, yeah." He grumbled, the sheriff patting him on the back before the two headed over to the tables where the food was being passed around, Daryl taking his spot beside Rose just as Ryder moved to take the spot, the two men having a bit of a macho staring contest before Rose pulled Daryl down to the seat.

"Fucking men."

҉

Everyone had moved outside now, the girls other than Rose sat at the picnic benches, sorting clothes, dirty from clean, so they could go down to the creek to wash them while Jamie followed her dad around who was busy moving dead walkers still, his punishment for antagonizing Daryl and Rose.

"So what was mommy like?" Jamie asked as she skipped behind him, making a face as she examined the walker he dragged across the field, "Was she nice? Did she curse a lot like she does now? Why'd you and mommy love each other?" The questions never ended with her, and though it was adorable it was driving Ryder a bit mad at the same time.

Ryder threw the walker in the pile with the rest, wiping the sweat from the back of his neck as he glanced down at Jamie through squinted eyes, "You're momma was a fire cracker," Ryder answers smiling a bit, "She did curse a lot, but I think that's just because of her southern… no bullshit up brining, you've meet your grandparents I'm sure." He said and Jamie nods quickly.

"Nana Julie said that I was a blonde haired green eyed demon once," Jamie said making a face, "Then she said I was going to grow up and conquer the world." Ryder laughs when she mispronounces the word, saying it more like 'khanquer'.

"It's conquer doll baby, and yeah, that sounds like Miss. Julie." Ryder tilted his head towards the watch tower, and the little bit of shade it produced as he pulled his shirt over his head, and used it to wipe the sweat from his face. "So, did you're momma get you into St. Margret's?" Ryder asked as he sat down on the ground, Jamie sitting across from him Indian style as she nods, picking at the grass.

"Yeah she did, I didn't like it sometimes though, I got in trouble a lot, and the boys picked on me." Jamie pouted, and Ryder nods.

"It's those damn nuns, you know your Granddaddy, Mr. J, he went there and caused a bit of trouble so the nuns always went after the Waters, they were mean to your momma too." Ryder says, remembering all the times the nuns would punish Rose, all the times he'd have to sneak her out of detention.

"Did you go to school with her?"

Ryder shakes his head, "I went to a public school just outside the city," Ryder smiles a little, "My daddy had a uh, knack for getting into trouble, so a private school for religious Nazis wasn't really in my play book."

"Then how did you and momma meet?" Jamie was so curious, Rose never spoke out Ryder, and when Jamie would ask her mother would always tell her he was a bad man, but her daddy didn't seem bad.

"Her and I had mutual friends," He said, though it was true it was also a PG version of it, "We hit off real well, but we… we just were on different roads."

"Cause you did Meth right?" Jamie said sadly, and Ryder made a face, not knowing that Rose had revealed those sorts of things to her.

"Did Rose say that, cause she wasn't no angel either." Ryder said bitterly, leaning his head back against the stone wall, noticing Jamie look a bit confused.

"Momma did meth too?" Ryder shook his head quickly, looking back over at Jamie.

"Nah, you're momma never touched that stuff, but she was what you'd call a uh, partier."

"Like Paris Hilton?"

"How in the hell do you know who Paris Hilton is?" Ryder laughs shaking his head, and Jamie smiles.

"Momma had a lot of magazines, and there was this TV show about her and her friend, it was really funny." Jamie giggles, remember all the times she snuck out of her room late at night to watch the show when she was little, she never understood it, still didn't.

"You're seven," Ryder said, shaking his head slowly as he smiled over at Jamie, "You're so grown up." He said sadly, reaching over to brush some of her curls from her face, "Sorry I wasn't there baby."

Jamie nods, giving him a small smile before looking back down at the ground, pulling at the grass again. She was about to ask him why he didn't love her enough to stay when she heard Mr. Daryl's voice, "Pretty boy, Rick's forcing Rose and I to take you on a milk run."

Ryder stood up, and Daryl noticed the tattoo on his chest, that looked exactly like the one on Rose's hip, "Ah yeah, Rosie and I got matching tats when we found out this one was on the way." Ryder said, his hand going to Jamie's hair, smiling down at her, "It's Japanese, Kanji, it means 'Forever'." The way Ryder said it bothered Daryl, and he narrowed his eyes.

"Forever huh?" He laughed a bit shaking his head as he glanced back over at Rose who waited by her silver Tahoe, "Seems like you've got a misunderstanding on the definition of forever, pretty boy." Daryl said then turned to walk away, Jamie frowning as she watched him go angrily.

"I think Mr. Daryl hates you," Jamie muttered, looking up at Ryder as he nodded, slipping his shirt back over his head.

"Do you blame him? I'm here to steal his woman." He muttered, before walking away, Jamie standing there for a minute, taking in what he said before running after him.

"Look for guns, ammo," Rick said turning to face Rose who pushed herself up from the ground where she had been sitting, waiting for Daryl to come back with Ryder, "The town is just a few miles north, Glenn's marked it on the map, there's a pharmacy, so there might be medicine, canned food maybe."

Rose nods, "Firearms, food and medicine, got it sheriff." Rose gives him a reassuring smile, glancing towards the left right when she heard Daryl's footsteps, Ryder and Jamie close behind.

"If Ryder causes in trouble you tell me when you're back," Rick says putting a hand on Rose's arms, making her turn back to him, smiling a bit.

"I will Rick," Rose gives him a quick nod, then turns when Daryl is at her side, the look on his face one she knew well.

"What he say to set you off?" Rose asks, leaning against her truck as he shrugs, glancing down at her pelvis, where the top of the tattoo showed right above where waist line of her shorts and top met.

"Don't matter; he's just trying to start shit." Daryl says, glancing over at Ryder as he stopped beside him, Jamie running over to her mother to hug her goodbye.

"Please don't kill daddy while you're out there," Jamie whispered into her mother's ear, and Rose couldn't help but to laugh as she pulled back, smiling as Jamie gave her a serious look, "I know he's annoying, but I want to keep him."

"Like a dog," Rose says, Jamie sending her a look making her smile again before pressing her lips to her forehead.

"Alright, Ryder, you're in the back, don't touch anything, don't steal anything, and don't breathe on anything." Rose said quickly as she headed to the passenger side of the truck, tossing Daryl the keys while Ryder rolled his eyes, and accepted the small pistol and ammunition Rick gave him.

"Giving me a bitch gun," He muttered, glancing up at Rick who only nods.

"I don't trust you yet Ryder, prove yourself and maybe you'll get a better choice next time." Rick said with a shrug making Ryder roll his eyes childishly before heading over to the car, giving Jamie a wink before climbing in.

The car ride was going to be one for the history books, a spit fire country girl next to her crossbow wielding boyfriend and her ex junkie baby daddy in the back seat, who would set off who first was what Rose was worried about. Because she knew she'd probably have a hard time holding her tongue if Ryder tried to make small talk and if Ryder said something uncalled for Daryl would probably let go of the wheel and shoot him. But it was a ride they had to take, and maybe it would just teach Ryder he can't be the same person anymore, he can't be that sarcastic prick who made joke, he had to man up, grow up, for once in his life.

"Anything on the radio?" Rose sighs shaking her head at Ryder's question as she leaned against the window, staring at the trees as they flew past them.

"Hasn't been a single broadcast in months," Rose glances at Ryder in the rearview mirror, seeing him nod slowly, "Everyone's to busy surviving and dying."

"But not you," Ryder says, earning a curious look from both passengers in the front, "Your daddy taught you to well to get snuffed out by some reanimated corpses huh?"

"Let's not bring up the dead," Rose muttered, making Daryl look over at her, she never talked much about her parents, but the way she said it made it seem like she lost him when this started, and not naturally.

"Rosie… I'm sor-"

"Save it Ryder, we're almost to town and I'm done listening to you talk." Rose rasped out, resting against her hand as she looked back out the window, feeling Ryder's eyes burning in the back of her head while Daryl reached over and squeezed her knee tenderly.

"We're gonna need you to be quick on your feet Marks," Daryl said now, changing the subject, "There's only three of us so splitting up isn't an option."

Ryder nods, shifting in his seat when the truck pulled to a stop, "Anything particular you want me to look out for?"

"Daryl and I will focus on fire arms, and you can look out for some pharmaceuticals, any type of medicine, you should be good at hunting that down." Rose taunted as she climbed out of the car, making Ryder roll his eyes before he did the same and examined the small gun he'd been given, while Rose pulled out a rifle for her seat, slinging it over her shoulder then a machete.

"Now this is just embarrassing," Ryder grumbled as he loaded up his gun, Rose smirking over at him as she twirled the machete in her hand, glancing up at Daryl when he called her name.

"You're ankle gonna be alright?" Rose nods glancing down at her ankle, moving it to the side as she sighed.

"Should be, let's just not be jumping from any high places yeah?" Rose laughed, and Daryl smiled at her before loading up his crossbow.

"What's wrong with your ankle?" Ryder asks curiously, moving to walk beside Rose as they headed into the town.

Rose glanced over at him, biting her bottom lip as she shrugs, looking back ahead of her, "Broke it few months back."

Daryl shushes her, earning a small glare from Rose and a full on death stare from Ryder before Daryl turned into a gun shop. Rose stood by the door, gesturing for Ryder to follow after Daryl while she stood watch, the rifle placed in her hands and pointed out onto the street. Ryder headed through the door where Daryl had slipped in at, his eyes widening a bit as he saw the message written on the wall 'Only way out', he walked towards it, swallowing down the lump in his throat as he ran his fingers over what he thought was paint.

"Written in blood," Daryl said, Ryder turning back to look at him, seeing the man shoving some guns into his duffle, "Rose thinks it was the owner of the place, found three walkers in here." He said setting the duffle on the counter, "Suspect the man killed his wife and kid, wrote the message in their blood, than offed himself." He said looking around for any stray bullets he could had missed.

Ryder nods slowly, looking back at the message, "How come you didn't do it?" He asked heading over to Daryl who scoffed.

"That's the easy way out," He said shaking his head, "I had people I had to protect, people to live for."

"Rose and Jamie?"

Daryl shakes his head, "Not at first." He admits, looking over at Ryder, "I had my brother, lost him, then I found them, hiding out in the woods." He says glancing over at Rose who was leaning against the door way leading out, "Jamie was all skin and bones, Rose was able to keep them fed, but not enough to keep them alive… if I hadn't found them they'd be dead."

The thought of Rose being one of those things, Jamie being one of those things, it scared Ryder, he hadn't been there for them, and he wasn't truly a part of their family, but he couldn't bear the thought of them being gone. "Thank you."

Daryl raised one of his eyebrows, looking back at Ryder, "You are a sorry piece of shit you know?" Daryl said now with a hushed voice, glancing back at Rose who had taken a step outside, "Doing that to those girls." He said, trying to hold back his anger, "You're going to break her heart again."

"Look, Rose and I,"

"Not Rosie, Daryl said shaking his head as he collected the duffle, moving so he was face to face with Ryder, "Jamie… you're playing with fire, and you're going to hurt her, or get her killed… and if you do anything, and I mean anything to put her, or anyone in that prison in danger?" Daryl got a bit closer, his entire body stiff, "I will kill you." Ryder stood his ground, not breaking Daryl's stare until Rose called to the both of them, hearing her boots against the wood floor.

"You two, get out here, now." Rose said quickly, not bothering to commit on the testosterone levels in the room. Daryl followed after Rose quickly, Ryder close behind as the three peered out the door way, spotting a pack of walkers heading in their direction just pass the truck.

"Shit," Daryl muttered moving away from the door way, pulling Rose with him.

"How are we going to get to the truck?" Ryder asked, glancing out the door as the walkers got closer. Rose bit her lip looking around, before going to the front door and shut it, pulling the table closest over and pushed it against the door, Ryder actually helping out while Daryl ran to the back to check the alley.

Rose remained quiet, hearing the moans of the walkers coming from outside of the door, avoiding the windows, making Ryder avoid the widows with a pull of his sleeve shaking her head when he looked at her.

"Be quiet, avoid the windows." She whispered and Ryder nods, the two turning when Daryl walked back into the room.

"The alley's clear, but the entrance is blocked," He explained looking over at Rose when she let out a sigh, "We can climb the fence." He stated, his eyes moving to Rose's ankle, "It's our only chance."

Rose nods, "Let's do it, one of us can sneak around and grab the truck." She says following after Daryl, the three quietly making their way through the gun shop. Rose held her machete steadily at her side, her breathing a bit rapid as she stayed close to Daryl. She placed a hand on his back as he peered out the door leading into the alley, feeling him tense up a bit.

"There are a few stragglers, only four or five I think." He whispers glancing over to the gate, "We gotta be quick, no fuck ups." He says and reaches back to grab Rose's hand.

Ryder takes in a breath as he hesitates in the door way, watching as Daryl and Rose ran to the gate, before turning back to look at him, "Come on!" Daryl whispered angrily.

"Don't be a pussy!" Rose taunted, and Ryder sighed shaking his head before running over to them, glancing behind as the herd seemed to grow larger in the streets, the few stragglers in the alley growing a bit more as he saw what they were feasting on.

"Is that a dog?" Ryder whispered looking over at Rose as she nods.

"Bastards eat anything with a pulse."

"Ain't a time for chit chat guys," Daryl said, "Ryder you go first, I'll toss you the bags and the keys." Daryl explains quickly, "The truck should be clear, you run, if anything gets in your way take them out with this." Daryl pulled the machete from Rose's hand, and holds it up for him to see.

"That's mine!" Rose grumbles before turning to look at Ryder, "You leave us Ryder, I swear to God if you try to leave us I will find you, and kill you."

Ryder nods quickly, then grabs a hold of the fence and hauls himself over. Daryl tosses the bag of ammunition over, then hands Ryder the keys and machete.

"Alright Rosie," Daryl says as Ryder takes off turning to Rose as she lets out the breath she had been holding it, shaking her arms out a bit, trying to get her mind off the fact there was at least ten walkers behind them who had yet to notice them, but if they did, they'd be dead. "You gotta climb quick, try not to land on your bad ankle." Daryl said, his hand going to Rose's back as she gripped onto the fence.

Rose slipped the toes of her shoes into the holes of the fence, wincing a bit as she felt the pressure of her weight on her bad ankle when she moved it into the next hole, Daryl's hand giving her support as she tried to haul herself over. Just as Rose was straddling the top of the fence, the sounds of gun shots filled the air, and the walkers all raised their heads, looking right at him with dead eyes.

"Fucking Ryder," Daryl growled out, letting go of Rose's leg and went to climbing the fence when the walkers started to get up. "Rosie, jump, jump now." Daryl said quickly as he reached the top. Rose nods and sucks in a breath of air before jumping down, and landed on her bad ankle. She heard the snap, her eyes widened, and then she felt it. Daryl watched in horror as Rose fell to the ground, screaming out in pain and he jumped over landing beside her his crossbow in hand.

"God damn it," He grumbled, pulling Rose away from the gate just in time for walkers to press themselves to it.

"Jesus fucking Christ," Rose groaned out, gripping onto Daryl's hand, letting him pull her up, crying out when she tried to put some weight on her foot, "Please tell me the bone's not sticking out." She whimpered and Daryl looked down at her ankle shaking his head.

"No, no it's not, no blood no foul."

"THERE IS PLENTY OF FUCKING FOUL." Rose screamed, seeing the truck in the distance, Ryder leaning out of it, waving his hands around, trying to get them to move faster. Daryl couldn't believe this was happening, Ryder was back, the milk run had gone sour, and now Rose was hurt with a heard of walkers only a few meters behind them.

"Every god damn fucking time," Rose shot a glare at Daryl when he yelled at her, trying to keep her from putting any weight on her ankle.

"Well fucking excuse me Mr. Dixon for being such a fucking hassle." Rose tried to pull away from Daryl, but he pulled her right back to his side roughly, which would have turned her on if she wasn't in so much pain.

"Stop cursing, you're a mother." Daryl snapped as they reached the car, Ryder running over to open the back seat for them.

'What the hell happened?" Ryder got no answer as he helped Daryl get Rose in before Rose went off on Daryl, clutching the front of his shirt and pulled him into the car, Ryder watching it through the window.

"I have just broken my fucking ankle for the fiftieth fucking time, and if I want to fucking curse I'm going to fucking curse now shut the fuck up if you ever want me to sleep with you fucking asshole." Rose's belted out, her voice echoing all throughout the ghost town, and Ryder looked around seeing them getting closer.

"We don't have enough time for this guys!" Ryder yelled, pulling Daryl away from Rose, who just glared at.

"You certainly showed the diversity of the word," Daryl murmured to himself as he looked down at him and wiped away the few tears that had escaped eyes, "Just sit tight, and try not to break yourself anymore."

҉

The group panicking at the sight of Rose in Daryl's arms was something he had expected, and hearing Lori mutter 'again?' to her husband just made him laugh while Ryder tried to explain to the others what had happened while handing over the duffle of supplies they were able to round up.

"What's happened?" Logan stood up from the cot in the cell Rick had just moved them in going right to Daryl's side as he set Rose down in the bed.

"She fucked her ankle up a few months back, and she's got a knack for making it worse, jumped a fence and twisted it." Daryl explained, running his fingers through his hair as Rose sat up on her elbows.

"There's swelling, might be another fracture." She explained to Logan as he nods, moving to examine her ankle. He touched the tender spot and looked up when Rose gasped, before he looked over his shoulder at Johanna who had gotten up from the bed as Daryl put Rose down and stood behind Logan. The couple locked eyes for a minute before she nodded once and dragged a bag from beneath the cot. Daryl's eyes focused on the bag until Johanna pulled out what seemed to be a first aid kit. He lifted his brows, surprised as she opened it.

"How did you get all of this?" Rose mused loudly as she stared down at the kit that was stocked with gauze, betadine, saline, sanitizers, and even a suture kit. Logan looked up and shrugged once, "I took them from the hospital I was doing my internship at." He explained once. "We refilled it whenever we ran into a pharmacy." Johanna finished as she handed out the gauze to Logan.

Rose winced as Logan firmly held her ankle close and wrapped the gauze around it, sighing once, "I wish we had an ultrasound or something." He muttered, "So just…keep it there, okay?" Logan frowned a little as he looked up at Rose. "Stop moving, for god's sake." He shook his head at her and glanced up at Daryl who patted his shoulder. Johanna closed the kit and put it back into the bag.

Rose let out a small whimper as she sat up, Daryl moving to her side and stroked her hair pressing his lips to hers while Jamie stuck in and climbed into his lap, demanding to know what happened. Ryder stood at the entrance of the cell, watching as Rose explained to their daughter what happened, how Ryder had gone to get the truck, and Jamie sent a grin his way.

"So daddy risked his life to help?" Jamie asked looking back at Rose as she caught Ryder looking at her.

"Yeah, yeah he did." She said quietly, looking back at Jamie now as she smiled.

"Johanna," Everyone looked at Beth when she spoke up, "You said you wanted to help, how about you come and help me with dinner?" Beth asked a soft smile on her face. Johanna's face lit up and she nodded quickly, pecking Logan's lips as she ran out to follow Beth. Logan sighed a little and leaned back against the wall, pursing his lips as he watched after the direction where Johanna had gone. Rose and Daryl noted his expression and remained silent as well. They knew the look they'd seen in his eyes. The same look Hershel had in his eyes whenever he saw Maggie and Beth smile. The same one Rose had whenever Jamie smiled, the one that Daryl had too whenever Rose smiled. It was one of sadness. Because who knew how long that happiness may last.

҉

Soon, everyone was gathering around in circle in the main hall. Well, everyone except the convicts who had been brought some food to their cell block due to the kindness of Beth and Hershel. Ryder had a place at the fire tonight, he had earned it, and no one seemed to one to argue with Jamie over it. Beth, Johanna, Lori, and Maggie had taken it upon themselves to make the food look pretty. Rice and vegetables – even grilled meat was what they had, but at the moment it seemed more like a thanksgiving dinner.

"This tastes really good." Logan muttered out loud, "It's been so long since I tasted food that didn't have sugar in it." He mused aloud.

"Don't talk with food in your mouth, Logan." Jamie giggled and Logan rolled his eyes. Johanna smiled at Jamie and then looked down to scoop some rice into her mouth.

"So how come all the food you had was candy?" Maggie asked and lifted a brow.

Logan shrugged once, "Sugar kept us awake. It gave us energy to run and not stop. That's what we needed. We couldn't exactly get coffee so we replaced it with sugar." Logan explained once and Rick tilted his head at the concept, nodding slowly in slight approval before he drank some water.

"So all you ate was that sweet shit?" Daryl inquired, amused.

"Yeah." Johanna laughed a little at Daryl's expression, "You have no idea how many days can a bar of chocolate keep you awake. Now, that is. And eventually, you'll get strung out and never need sleep." She muttered.

The whole group stared at the couple who were huddled to each other's sides. It was somehow a miracle to most of them how these two even managed to stay alive this far along since the outbreak. But the more those two explained how they did it; it seemed to make more sense. Rick couldn't help but ask, "How did you two make it this far?"

Logan looked up, as if hesitant to answer the question, "Well, I noticed it first. I mean myself and a group of friends at the hospital." He explained. "We had a head start. We all went home, got our families and friends and met at one point, and we ran for it. They said we should head to Atlanta, and that was ninety miles away so we did."

"It was safe for…a few days. But this one person was sick and they died...and that's when we discovered it's actually a disease. Like everyone is infected." Johanna explained with a frown. "Two members of our group died, so it left nine of us. We took all the weapons we could possibly get and tried to get out of the city as fast as possible."

"That's when actual living people started killing each other." Logan started and frowned as he looked down. Rick and Daryl exchanged the same looks. It was a disappointment too, to them, when the living had started killing their own. "We just…stayed on the run for a very, very long time. We never settled."

"We shouldn't have settled." Johanna added as she looked down, frowning. "We found this high point, like…it was secluded. It was safe. We planned on staying there for only the night and moving the next day. But day after day, we stayed and we stayed – until it turned into a whole month. Then two. It was safe. It was almost normal again. It was like summer camp forever. No one wanted to move again. The mothers wanted to stay, the children were tired." Johanna sighed and looked down.

"There were children?" Rose's eyes widen as she searched their faces – because those children weren't here now. Everyone else seemed to be quiet, even the ones behind the bars.

Before Logan could answer, Johanna started, "My sister. She was five. And then there was Freedom. He was born on camp. He was only a few weeks old." She whispered and took a deep breath, "My sister and I were collecting herbs near the fence. You see, my mother was an apothecary. She was all about that kind of stuff – what plants you could eat, what you couldn't. And she passed that on to Lizzie and me." Johanna smiled a little.

"Then, out of nowhere, this walker grabs her. I managed to take it out, but soon there were more. They were…everywhere. They came from everywhere." Johanna whispered, "My sister and I ran back to camp, but Lizzie fell – and I tried to go back…" Johanna explained, "I did."

Much to everyone's surprise, Jamie got up and snuggled up to Johanna's side. Johanna's looked down at the little girl and smiled, "I'm sure she's in heaven now." Jamie said with a smile and Johanna laughed a little before she nodded, "Yeah. I hope so too."

Logan looked down at the girl, and then looked up at Rose – smiled at her a little. "We got over run in a matter of minutes, only Johanna and I managed to get out of there." Logan sighed and shook his head, "We went opposite from the direction that the herd came from, found this old farm and a burned barn. We gathered all the food and medicine we could get from there and ran for it. There was a lot of medical stuff." Logan said, "It turned to our luck a little, hunting for supplies was easier. And we just kept going from there." Logan stopped talking when he noticed the grim expressions on their faces, "What?"

"We stayed at that farm, before it got overrun." Hershel muttered, "It was my farm."

Logan and Johanna exchanged wide eyed looks and Rose frowned. "Huh." Was all that Johanna could say before she looked down and shook her head a little, "What a small world." She chuckled a little.

"So..." Logan started again, "We stayed on the run ever since. We filled out the kit, stocked it up all the time. We always had the candy with us. We had knives, a couple of guns, a couple of tools. We carried what we could carry and just went in the opposite direction. We never slept; one of us was always awake. Then we found you guys." Logan said and nodded once, "It's great…to be part of a group again."

Everyone fell silent for a minute before Johanna started, "Logan once went to um…take a crap, mind you." Johanna looked down at Jamie and the girl laughed a little. "Anyways, I heard this walker creeping up on him – and just when I was about to take it out, I saw it sniff and turn back." Johanna laughed once and grinned as she looked up at Logan, who rolled his eyes. Everyone else erupted into laughter.

"Say Logan, turns out you're that useful." Daryl grinned at him and Rose slapped his arm. The laughter faded as they enjoyed their food, as the light outside was fading too – marking the end to another miraculous day.


	20. Will The Circle Be Unbroken?

The sun barely begun to rise in the sky when Rose peered her head outside the door into the court yard, a small smile spreading across her face when she spotted Daryl sitting on top of one of the picnic benches whittling himself a wooden arrow. Rose limped her way over to him, her ankle a bit better than yesterday but she wasn't exactly ready to run a marathon just yet.

"Hey handsome," Rose called out smiling as Daryl turned his head some to look at her, "It's a bit early isn't it?" She asked, sitting at the seat of the picnic table, looking up at him as he went back to whittling.

"Maybe for you," He says looking down at her as she rolled her eyes, "What's got you up so early?"

Rose shrugged moving so her bad ankle rested against Daryl's shoes, "You weren't there," She started, "or at the perch." She explained leaning forward to rub her ankle, bringing her other leg up and rested her chin against her knee, "I missed your touch." Rose knew she sounded cheesy, and that thought alone made her sigh out loud, closing her eyes. She knew Daryl wasn't the type for that mushy stuff, hell, she wasn't either… but in times like this, she just… she liked the mushy. She liked knowing that she was going to wake up and have someone be there for her, for Jamie.

Daryl looked down at Rose curiously when she closed her eyes, she was so quiet after what she said, it was almost like she had fallen asleep again, but her mouth was open so he knew that wasn't the case. He smiled a bit, put down his knife, his half-done arrow and reached over to brush some of the hair from her face, causing her eyes to open.

"Is everyone asleep?" He asked, gripping the edges of the table and lowered himself down on the seat, careful not to hurt her ankle.

"Uhm," Rose started gripping onto his shoulder when he took a hold of her by her calf and pulled her legs onto his lap, pulling her closer in the process, "As far as I saw yeah, they are." Rose looked at him for a moment, watching as he smiled and rubbed her knee gently, "Why?" She kinked an eyebrow and Daryl smiled, shrugging a bit.

"No reason," He murmurs leaning over to press his lips to the side of her mouth, causing Rose to breathe in some from his closeness, her hand going to the back of his neck, trying to get him closer. Daryl turned his face away, kissing along her jaw line smiling a bit when she tensed up some, trying to pull his lips back to hers.

"Are you trying to tease me?" She whispered when he pulled back, and he just smiled at her, shaking his head again before kissing her once more.

Rose breathed in his scent, that earthy smell he always carried around when he had just bathed and had yet to venture into the wild to be covered in dirt and gore. She felt his finger tips on her thigh, and her breath hitched. That was what Daryl wanted, he wanted to hear her. He wanted his name to fall from her lips with each touch he gave, he wanted to hear her whimper and moan and beg him for more. But Rose wasn't going to give in that easily.

Daryl moved his hands to the milky smooth skin underneath her shirt, moving them higher until he reached the sides of her breasts, "No bra?"

"No bra," She repeated in a husky voice, leaning her forehead against his before kissing him gently, containing her moan when he ran his thumb across her nipple. Daryl pulled her shirt over her head, watching as Rose raised her eyebrows when he stopped to admire the view before she playfully smacked his cheek, getting his attention back to her face. Rose laughed aloud when he sent her a small teasing glare for slapping him before he gripped her hair, pulling her face back down to his. Rose moved her hands to his belt buckle, hurriedly trying to pull it from his waist as Daryl move his hands down to her neck, his nails scraping along her skin gently as he moved down to her shoulders, her arms and to her waist. Where ever his hands moved he left a burning sensation in their wake, and Rose could barely contain herself when he cupped her breasts, squeezing them gently making her moan into his mouth.

Rose continued to fight with the belt, sending him a glare when he pressed his hips up into hers causing a small whimper to escape her lips. She was finally able to get his belt off and she tossed it to the side pulling away from him, "No more kissing me." She murmured, licking her lips before leaning down to bite his collarbone gently, feeling his hands tangle in her hair. She made her way down his chest, dragging her nails slowly down his body until they reached the top of his pants, and she glanced back up at him, smirking as she trailed the tip of her finger along the top of his pants, pecking his lips with her own gently.

"Now you're teasing," He breathed out and she only smiled shaking her head slowly.

"I'd never," She said mockingly, squealing some when Daryl gripped her by her hips and picked her up, "I like being on top." She sighed when he moved so they were on the side of the table without the seats.

"I'm aware," He said, gripping her cotton shorts and pulled them down her legs slowly, tossing them in the growing pile of their clothes, "But I'm doing what I want." He said his nails digging into her hips and she opened her mouth to say something, but was stopped by his heated kiss.

Things started to get faster, and Rose did what she could to keep up with Daryl's quick movements, his kissing, his hands, his everything. But Daryl was holding her hands tightly against the table now, not letting her touch him as he trailed his lips along her body, causing her to shiver when the cool air would hit the wet spot left from his lips. "Daryl," She moaned out hearing him chuckle before he finally let her have control of her hands again, but before she had a chance to do anything he slipped a one of his hands in between her legs, causing her to grip onto his shoulders, containing her cries from pleasure as he watched her carefully, licking his bottom lip. "Not fair," She breathed her nails digging into his shoulders with each move of his fingers, and he only smiled before kissing her again.

Rose was able to gain some of her senses when Daryl finally moved his hand away, it now placed on her bottom while she undid the button of his pants, slowly pushing them and his boxers down his hips as far as she could get them to go, smirking up at him, "I'm digging this controlling thing," She whispered kissing the underside of his jaw when he chuckled, "It's hot."

"I'll do it more often then,"

"Please do," Rose laughed and Daryl rolls his eyes before moving his lips back to hers, hooking his fingers in the waistband of her panties, Rose moving her hips up some to help him get them off.

Rose watched Daryl carefully as he pressed his lips to her stomach, glancing up at her as he made his way back up her body, before his face was finally level with hers. "Come on Daryl," She begged her nails digging into his back, moving her hips against his some, feeling him hard against her, "Stop teasing." She murmured burying her face in the crook of his neck, nipping the skin there before he picked her up and pushed himself inside of her. Her head fell back as she moaned, her nails making their way down his back when he pushed into her again slowly lowering her back on the table once they had their angles right.

"Faster," She begged gripping onto his hips to pull him close again, forcing him to comply when she dug her nails into his skin. Daryl bit down on his lip, before forcing Rose to lay back on the table much to her surprise. He gripped her hips with his hands, watching as she cried out when he pushed deeper inside her, her moans coming out ragged with each thrust, her walls clutching around him.

"Come on baby," He breathed, his nails digging into her hips down when she cried out, feeling himself getting closer when Rose sat up and wrapped her arms around his neck, moaning out his name into her ear as she increased their pace even more. Daryl winced when he felt Rose's nails dig into his shoulders and down his back, feeling the fresh scratches she left behind before her entire body shook, and she cried out his name once more before she reached her peak, Daryl following soon after.

They both stood there a moment, Daryl's hands on Rose's bottom and hers on his shoulders, breathing heavily before they both laughed. "Oh god," She murmured biting her lip as Daryl sat her back on the table, pulling away from her a bit. He smiled as Rose tried to straighten out her breathing, leaning back on her hands, the sun hot against her already hot skin when Daryl leaned forward and pressed his lips to hers gently, his hand moving to brush the hair from her face.

"Maybe you want to go again?" He hummed against her lips, his hands going back down to her hips and she laughs.

"You think you're up for it?" She teased tugging on his bottom lip gently, and he gripped her hips hard now causing her to laugh out loud.

"Oh, oh my god…Rosie?" The sound of Glenn's voice filled the court yard causing Rose and Daryl to both turn quickly to see him standing there, his eyes wide. "Guys, I'm so so sorry." He said his had going to cover up his eyes as Daryl pulls his boxers and pants up quickly, and snatched Rose's shirt from off the ground. Rose knew her face was red from Glenn seeing her in all her glory, and his face was just as red, which made her laugh some.

"You speak of this to no one," Daryl said quickly as he pulled his shirt back over his head, picking up Rose's under garments and shorts, and handed them to her.

"I won't, I swear… I'm so sorry guys I didn't know you were out here." Glenn said shaking his head, everyone turning when more footsteps were heard.

"Glenn did you find a good place for us?" Maggie's voice rang out, and Rose raised an eyebrow before looking over at Daryl who shared her expression. "For us to… eat."

Rose and Daryl looked at each other before laughing loudly, "What?" Maggie's voice cracked some and Rose just shook her head, biting her lips to keep from laughing.

"Guard tower," Rose said quickly point up towards it, "Secluded, and up high." She shrugs before heading away from the three, Daryl rolling his eyes as he gathered his things before following after her.

Rose walked inside just in time for the rest of the group members to be waking, and she smiled when she spotted Lori sitting with Jamie, who had her hands on Lori's belly. "Mama, the baby's kicking." Jamie said excitedly when Rose approached them, and she smiled over at Lori.

"Really now? I guess she's ready to get out now huh?" Rose asked happily her hand going to Lori's swollen stomach, her eyes widening a bit when the baby kicked, "You're growing a linebacker in there or what?" She laughed smiling when Lori laughed with her.

"He's been at it all morning," Lori said, the tone of her voice one Rose knew well as the expecting mother placed her hands on her belly, "He's growing big and strong." She murmurs, and Rose just smiles before standing up.

"I'm going to go get cleaned up," Rose said smiling a bit, "You let me know if you need anything." Rose walked away now, hearing Jamie start up a conversation with Lori about how babies were made and laughed to herself when Lori called after her but chose to pretend like she hadn't heard her. The group had found a shower room down the hall to the cells, and was able to get the water working, it wasn't hot water, but it was clean and it was better than bathing in the creek so no one really complained. Rose made her way up the stairs and into the cell she shared with Jamie. She quickly picked up the clothes that were thrown around by Jamie who was most likely looking for clothes to wear this morning, and folded them neatly back into the suit case. Rose sighed a bit, running her fingers through her curls thinking to herself she should cut her hair before going to her suitcase and pulled out a tight pair of jeans that had holes in the knees, then a white tank top. She gathered up the bag that carried her and Jamie's bathroom supplies and turned to leave, raising an eyebrow at the sight of Ryder.

"Can I, uh, can I talk to you for two minutes?" Ryder asked and Rose bit her lip, nodding slowly as she noticed the strange look on Ryder's face.

"I've been thinking," He starts taking a step closer to her, "Thinking a lot actually… about… about this mess I've made." He whispers, looking up into her green eyes, "You and Jamie… you two are the only thing I have left from my life before all this."

"Ryder,"

"No, Rosie, damn it please just let me finish." He says quickly, almost desperately and she shuts her mouth, "I'm not going to try and ruin things for you, you and your hick." He says, laughing a bit when she sent him a look, "But I want… I want us to at least, try and get along… for Jammy's sake."

Rose watched Ryder carefully, trying to detect any sort of lie, or anything to show he was scheming, but he looked sincere, he sounded it. "Okay." She says quietly, giving him a small smile when he looked hopeful.

"I know I've been awful to you, and to Jamie," He shrugs, shaking his head as he reaches forward to take her hand in his, squeezing it gently, "But Jamie, she's our daughter… I love her, and I will do anything to make sure she stays safe." He explains, and she nods, "I'm sorry Rosie, I'm sorry for being such a prick, for cheating, for choosing crystal over you… I was wrong." Ryder's eyes had glazed over, and she noticed the tears forming which made her sigh.

"It's okay Ryder, just… just be good to her." Rose said pulling her hand back, "Be good to our baby." Ryder nods, and Rose places a hand on his shoulder, "Stop crying buddy, it doesn't suit you." She says and walks away, hearing him laugh a bit.

҉

Rose headed out into the court yard, spotting Jamie with Carl on the basketball court, the two scamming something with Johanna. Logan sat with Lori, obviously talking about the baby and the plans for its birth. She squints her eyes when she noticed Daryl, Rick, T-Dog, Ryder and Carol in the distance bring the cars into the field and decided that she wanted to help out.

"Mommy," Jamie ran after her, abandoning Carl and Jo who stared after her, "Mommy look what daddy gave me!" Jamie said excitedly and Rose stopped looking down at the ring Jamie held in her tiny palm, "Daddy said it was his mommy's ring." She said and Rose smiled, ruffling Jamie's hair.

"That's your grandma's wedding ring; Ryder's had that for a while." Rose says and Jamie nods, "That's sweet Jamie, it was nice of him to give you that don't lose it okay?" Rose asks, and Jamie nods again putting the ring back into her pocket, "I'm going to go help out the others alright baby? Don't leave Johanna's sight, stay with her."

Rose crouched down and presses a kiss to Jamie's hair, hugging her tightly before letting her run back off to Jo, he waved at her. Rose waved back, smiling a little then headed back off in the direction of the others, coming out just in time to hear Daryl calling up to Glenn and Maggie in the guard tower.

Rose jogged over to the others, glancing up to where they were looking to see Glenn greet them, shirtless, Rick chuckling a bit at the sight.

"You coming?" The group snickered at Daryl's call, and she shook her head slowly laughing along with them when Glenn asked 'what'. "You coming?" Daryl asked again the look of confusion on Glenn's face priceless, "Come on we could use a hand!" He called out, turning away to head back to the cars and Rose laughed as she followed after them.

"Hey Rick," T-Dog's voice caused everyone to stop, and Rose ended up beside Ryder, both of them turning to see what T-Dog had pointed out, spotting the two other prisoners heading out into the field.

"I'll, I'll talk to them." Ryder said now looking over at Rick who shook his head as he headed towards the direction they were coming from.

"Come with me," Rick said, and Rose glanced over at Daryl who nodded and they all followed after him. Rose had to admit that the prisoners really didn't look that threatening, but she had trusted someone once just by their looks, and that ended badly, so she wasn't about to do it again. Ryder moved to stand beside Rick, and Rose stayed in the back beside Carol watching the men carefully as they stood the ground.

"That's close enough," Rick said, the hostility in his voice clear as day, "We had an agreement."

"Please mister, we know that," The convict, Axel, Rose thought, started as Glenn and Maggie headed out of the guard tower, looking at the scene with curiosity and confusion. "We made a deal, but you gotta understand, we can't live in that place another minute, you follow me." He looked over at his friend, Oscar, briefly, "All the bodies, people we knew. Blood, Brains, everywhere; there's ghosts." Rose frowned, glancing down at the dirt as Axel begged Rick.

"Why don't you move the bodies out?" Rose looked up when Daryl suggested it, and nods, that would have been the smart thing to do.

"We should be burning them," Oscar said, his eyes moving to Ryder he fidgeted beside Rick.

"We tried," Axel said, his arms crossed over his chest, trying to make himself seem smaller, scared of Rick obviously, "We did."

"The fence is down at the far side of the prison," Ryder spoke up, everyone turning to look at him when he moved to stand beside the prisoners, his friends.

"Every time we drag a body out those things just line up," Oscar finishes for him shrugging a bit as Ryder nods.

"We end up just dropping the body and running back inside." Ryder looks at Rose now, as if trying to get her to help defend the prisoners and she only looks away, not wanting to be involved in this.

"Look, we had nothing to do with Tomas and Andrew," Axel held his arms out, walking closer to Rick as Ryder moved to the side again, "Nothing." He says as the rest of the group moves closer to the prisoners, Rose's hand moving to the pistol that was holstered to her side. "If you're trying to prove a point you've proved it bro, we'll do whatever it takes to be part of your group, just please, please don't make us live in that place." Rose moved her hand from her gun, feeling sorry for them, for Ryder, which was a new feeling she's never felt before that involved Ryder.

"Our deal's nonnegotiable," Rick says shaking his head, "You either live in your cell block, or you leave."

"You let Ryder out," Axel tries which makes Ryder send him a look, "He's been locked up in this place just as long as the rest of us."

"Ryder's got a little girl to take care of," Rick says, "And he isn't living with us, he's living with you… he only helps out and does his part so he can see his girl, he's owning up to his deal."

Axel frowns shaking his head slowly as he looks to the ground, "I told you this was a waste of time." Oscar looks over at him, "They ain't no different than the pricks who shot up our boys. Do you know how many friends' corpses we had to drag out this week?" Oscar asked angrily looking at Rick now, "Just threw them out like," Oscar bit his lip, "These were good guys, good guys who had our backs against the really bad dudes in the joint, like Tomas and Andrew. Now we've all made mistakes to get in here chief, and I'm not going to pretend to be a saint, but believe me, we've paid our dues enough where we would rather hit that road, then to go back in that shit hole."

Rose wanted to say something, come up with an idea that could help out the convicts without having them come into their home, but she had nothing, nothing that was going to help anyone so when Rick looked back at Daryl she just let him give the word; which was a shake of the head. Rose sighed when Rick had Daryl lock them up in the fenced off area that was once used for processing, feeling sorry for the two men knowing they would last at least a week out on their own.

Rose felt Maggie's hand on her shoulder as the women headed over to the silver Tahoe alongside Rick, Glenn and T-Dog. "What do you think about this?" T-Dog's voice asked her and she shrugged a bit, looking over at him as she hopped in the bed of the truck.

"I don't like it," She admits watching as Daryl walked over, noticing Ryder talking to the two men behind the fence, "But… I don't want them in the same place where my baby sleeps."

"We don't know if they'd do anything," T-Dog said sadly leaning against the flipped over bus as Daryl moved to stand beside Rose.

"We don't know if they won't neither." He interjects, and Rose nods slowly in agreement, watching as Rick sighed, placing a hand on one of the lights, looking down at T-Dog.

"Are you serious? You want them living in the cell next to you?" Rick asked, "They'll just be waiting for the chance to grab our weapons, do you, do you want to go back to sleeping with one eye open?"

T-Dog shook his head, "I never stopped." He looked at Rick seriously, and Rose watched the two, "Bring them into the fold, or we send them off packing, we might as well execute them ourselves." He says looking around the group, and Rose couldn't help but feel the pain in her heart, T-Dog's words reminding her an awful lot like Dale's.

"I don't know, Axel seems a little unstable," Glenn said, earning a few nods from the others.

"After all we've been through, we've fought so hard for all of this, what if they decided to take it?" Carol asks, looking around the group for answers.

"It's just been us for so long, we took in Ryder, the two kids," Maggie started looking over at the two convicts, "They're strangers."

"So are the kids," Rose finally spoke up causing everyone to look at her, "We didn't know anything about Jo, or Logan, but we took them in… and, they're, they are good people… without them we probably would have lost Hershel." Rose looks over at Maggie sadly, "Who are we to judge these guys as bad just cause they're in jail… I could have gone to jail, if I hadn't had gotten pregnant."

Maggie shook her head, "Johanna and Logan are just kids, and they're hardly even past their teenaged years yet." She says shrugging a bit, "And it feels weird having suddenly having other people around."

"You brought us in," T-Dog added in and Maggie sighed.

"Yeah but you turned up with a shot boy in your arms, didn't give us a choice." Maggie said, and Rose bit her lip, knowing if she said they let her come in they'd just turn it back to the kids. They always bring in kids.

"They can't even kill walkers," Glenn said, trying to defend the prisoners.

"They're convicts, bottom line."

"Those two might have less blood on their hands then any of we do," T-Dog answered Carol, looking back at Rick.

"I get guys like this," Daryl started, "Hell I grew up with them, they're degenerates but they ain't psychos. I could have been in there with them just as easy as I'm out here with you guys." Daryl said with a small shrug.

"So you're with me?" T-Dog asked hopefully, and Rose frowned knowing well enough Daryl was not anywhere close to the same page as T.

"Hell nah," Daryl said, causing T-Dog to look back at him, "Let them take their chances out on the road, just like we did."

"What I'm saying Daryl,"

"When I was a rookie I arrested this kid," Rick interrupted T-Dog, making the man look back at him as he told his story about the teenager who stabbed his girlfriend, begged and pleaded and finally was able to convince the court he hadn't done it and two weeks later killed another girl. "We've been through to much, our deal with them stands." Rose frowns as Daryl and Rick walk away, and she hops off the truck.

"I'm sorry T," She says sadly while the others walk away, and he just nods slowly, "Maybe they'll be okay out there, they've got each other." She suggests and T-Dog shakes his head slowly before walking away.

Rose sighed to herself, and followed after the group, noticing the fact Ryder had already started after them himself, the two convicts starting at them as she gave them a sad smile, and mouthed 'sorry'.

҉

Rose was helping Carol, Maggie, and T-Dog get the cars parked the way Rick had wanted when Hershel, Lori, Beth, and Carol all came out into the court yard. It was just another one of those miracles, Hershel up and able to get around, one leg or two, nothing was able to stop that man from living. She smiles as she watched Logan laugh, pressing his lips to Johanna's hair who stood beside Jamie. Ryder ran over to their daughter, picking her up in his arm, spinning her around. Rose sighed shaking her head slowly before going to head out to help with the fire wood, her ankle a bit sorer than it had been this morning, do to all the walking she'd been doing. She'd gotten about half way across the field when she heard the screams.

"ROSE!" She heard Daryl calling her name, but she didn't turn to see him, she turned and all she saw was the walkers, the walkers heading straight for her baby.

"JAMIE! JAMIE BABY RUN INSIDE!" Rose screamed out, and took off, doing her best to ignore the pain in her ankle, knowing that she was going to end up falling over, but she had to get to her, she had to get to her Jamie. "Ryder! Get her inside!" She screamed out to him, seeing him shooting at the walkers that closer, his hand on Jamie's shoulder as he forced her to stay behind him. Rose pulled out her pistol, and started to fire away at the walkers heading her way, heading for Logan and Jo.

"Joey!" Jamie screamed out to Johanna when a walker got close to the couple and Logan shot it in the face before he was able to get its hands on her.

"Go with Jamie and Ryder, I'm going to get Rose." Logan said to Johanna quickly, pressing his lips to hers before the two parted ways. Rose fired away at the walkers, her eyes never leaving from Jamie as Ryder scooped her up in his arms, Johanna making it to his side, and he looked right at Rose, directly into her eyes just as a walker grabbed her, and pulled her to the ground.

Ryder's eyes widened when he heard Rose's screams, the gunshots, Logan's shouts as he made his way to her."Ryder, Ryder we have to get inside." Johanna said, looking over at Logan as he fired away at the walkers, and Ryder swallows nodding.

"Come on, there's a way in through here." Ryder said and ran towards the entrance he'd found some time ago, Johanna on his heels as the two made their way around the building, firing away at the walkers.

"Come on, in here." Ryder said quickly, going to open the door to find it jammed shut by something, "What the fuck is this?" He shouted, setting Jamie down, "Johanna, keep them off our backs." He said, his eyes widening some as he saw his little girl pull a gun from the holster on her side, and fire a shot right at a walker. He had assumed it wasn't loaded. He shook his head quickly, pushing away his thoughts of Jamie with a gun in one hand, and that tattered rabbit in the other, of Rose being eaten alive by one of those things and rammed his entire body against the door, using all his weight, and heard something crack inside. He did it again, and again, and again until the door finally flung open and he took Jamie's hand, shouting at Jo to follow behind them not bother to stop to see that the thing blocking the door had been a broken broom stick.

Ryder hadn't been in one of these situations yet, he'd gone with the group when they first discovered them and we're going to clean out the cell block, but he didn't have other people to protect, he didn't have Jamie to protect, and right now, she was his only concern.

"Daddy, where's mommy?" Jamie sobbed letting Ryder pull her through the halls, "Did you see mommy?" Ryder frowned, and so did Johanna. She had seen it to, she saw Rose get taken down by those things.

"I'm sure she's fine Jamie," Johanna tried the three stopping when they heard the moans of the walkers coming from in front of them, and Jamie whimpered.

"This way," Ryder said now as he spotted stairs, just in time for a huge group of walkers to turn the corner and see them. Ryder picked Jamie up in his arms again, and ran for the stairs, carefully and quickly making his way up them with ease. But Johanna, Johanna wasn't so lucky and he heard he fall, and he heard her scream for him to help.

"Ryder! Ryder please!" She screamed looking up at the man as he reached the top of the stairs, and he stopped briefly, looking down to see the small woman, reaching her hand up for help, but she was to far down, the walkers were to close, he couldn't risk it, he couldn't risk Jamie, so he continued on, blocking out her screams for help, blocking out Jamie's cries when she told him she had dropped her rabbit on the stairs, blocking out everything to keep her safe.

҉

Rose stood beside Logan, covered in blood as his hands moved over her body quickly, looking for bites, "Nothing, there's nothing you're fine." He laughed happily his hand going to her cheek smiling, "You're fine Rose, your fine." He said again, and Rose nods quickly, smiling back at him as she fought back the tears forming from worry, before sinking down to the stairs.

Logan had luckily been able to take out the walker before it was able to take a bite out of her, and the two got away, locked themselves in one of the guard towers. Rose could hear the walkers outside, banging against the door, grunting, moaning, and growling at them from hunger. Rose was hadn't moved since Logan dragged her in, and now she sat on the stairs, frozen still. She saw them, they got away, they got away, they were going to be okay. She kept telling herself that, but she couldn't stop the worry, she couldn't stop the shaking.

"Rose she's fine," Logan said, taking his hand in hers, getting her to look at him, "Jamie's fine, and I need you to not go into shock, I need you to calm down Rose." He said soothingly and she nods slowly, taking in a shaky breath.

"Rifles, there's some up top." She said, hearing the gun shots from outside, hearing Daryl's voice from outside. She stands up now, wincing when she put pressure on her ankle and Logan quickly wrapped an arm around her waist, and helped her climb up the stairs.

Once they reached the top Rose spotted Daryl, Rick, and Glenn taking out some walkers, but there was so many. She let Logan help her reach the bars and she grabbed her rifle, moving so she leaned against one of the bars going down, and held the scope close to her eyes. She took out one near Daryl, who turned quickly to see her there, blood covering her chest, soaking into her white tank top, but she was alive and he couldn't help but grin. Then she shot another one that had almost grabbed a hold of him, "PAY ATTENTION RETARD!" She screamed at him, before pointing the gun in a different direction, and took out more walkers. It went on like that, Logan and Rose in the guard tower, taking some out while Rick, Daryl and Glenn worked the ground until finally they were all killed off. Rose hadn't seen Lori get away, or Maggie or Carl. She had to assume that they got away while Logan was dragging her into that tower. The same with Carol and T, but she knew Hershel and Beth were alright, she'd seen them lock themselves in the fenced off area leading in.

Daryl, Rick, and Glenn ran over to Rose as Logan helped her walk, "What happened?" Rose asked quickly, Glenn shaking his head.

"Someone broke the locks, let them in." Rose eyes widened and she shook her head, looking up at Daryl as he pulled her from Logan's hold.

"Jamie's with Ryder and Johanna." She said feeling the tears finally falling now, "I saw them head past C block, but I don't know if they made it." She said shaking her head quickly and Daryl pressed his lips to her forehead, pulling her into his chest. It stayed like that, Rose crying quietly as the men planned what they were gonna do, finding out from Hershel and Beth were everyone was, and then putting the blame for what happened on the convicts when alarms started going off.

Rose pulled away from Daryl, wiping her eyes as she tried to man up and looked around, "What the fuck is that?" She shouted shaking her head as the others walked around, looking for the source of the buzzing, shooting the speakers on the walls.

She noticed the walkers starting to head towards the prison. "Oh my god, we've got to find the others!" She shouted quickly looking at Rick as he walked over to her, "We've got to find them, and we've got to find some place safe." She said sounding a bit delirious and Rick took her face in his hands.

"Rose calm down, I need you to get in there with Hershel and Beth." He said and Rose shook her head, going to protest.

"Rosie you're ankle is too bad, you will only slow us down and get yourself hurt." Daryl said quickly moving to take her hand as Rick pulled away, "I'm going to find her okay?" He asked looking her in the eyes as she nods, "She's going to be just fine." Rose nods quickly, and presses her lips to Daryl's before he pulls away, running after Rick as he ran towards the prisoners.

Rose took a breath and gripped onto the railing, watching as Rick shouted at the prisoners, who explained quickly to him about the backup generators, before forcing Oscar and Axel to go with them. Rose turned to look up at Hershel and Beth as the girl pulled her father's crutch from the gate, and went down to help Rose in.

"They're going to be okay Rose; everyone's going to be fine." Beth says rubbing Rose's back as she helped her up the stairs, Hershel putting the crutch back in place.

Rose slid down the concrete wall, her hands shaking as she looked up at Hershel who took Beth's hands, "It's going to be alright." He said to her, and then looked down at Rose, "It's going to be alright Rose."

She only nods as an answer, and turns her head away, humming to herself a song her mother used to sing, a song she sang to Jamie. She was okay… She had to be okay.

҉

Daryl walked behind Rick as they made their way into cell block D, they'd just found out the cause of all this mess, Andrew, the convict Rick had left to die. They'd stopped they alarms, they'd killed Andrew, and they had found T-Dog dead, eaten alive by those things, they found Carol's scarf with blood on it, but no sign of her. They'd searched all of cell block C for Lori, Maggie and Carl but hadn't found them, so they moved to D, in hopes of finding them there with Jamie.

"I'm sure they're okay," Glenn said, "Jamie was with Ryder and Jo, and they wouldn't have let anything happen to her…" He said but Daryl knew Glenn was telling himself the same thing about Maggie, that she was with Carl and Lori, they all had each other, they'd be fine wouldn't they?

They turned the hall and saw at least six or seven walkers all looking up, their hands raised up in the air, reaching for something in the celling until they heard the footsteps, and they're heads turned, their dead, blank expressions on the living before they moved quickly towards them. The men fired away, taking each walker out quickly, and Daryl went to retrieve his arrows when Logan let out a strange noise.

"Jo?" He called out, picking up a bloody sneaker from the bottom of the stairs, his eyes going up to where the walkers had been reaching, "Johanna baby, are you up there?" He asked quickly, everyone's eyes following his when a hand fell out of the hole in the celling.

"I think I broke something," Johanna's voice was muffled and hoarse, but Logan grinned, tears filling his eyes, "Help a girl out?" She rasped out, pulling her hand back and replacing it with her feet.

Logan handed Daryl his gun, and went to help Johanna out of the air vent, holding her in his arms once she was safely on the ground.

"God Jo, I thought I lost you." He rejoiced, pressing his lips to hers, pulling her tightly back into his arms. That's when Daryl noticed it, the tattered rabbit in her hand.

"Jamie?" He asked quietly, and Johanna turned to look at him, wiping the tears from her eyes.

"She, Ryder has her." She said, sounding a bit angry, "The walkers, they came out of nowhere…. So we, we went up the stairs, I fell," She chocked up, looking down at the ground, "He left me." She cried shaking her head, "He left me and one of the walkers…. It was Lizzie." She sobbed falling to the ground now and Daryl stared at her in shock, looking to where she had to see the small walker, with a bashed in head at the foot of the stairs, "I had to.. I had to do it." She cried into Logan's chest and Daryl frowned reaching down to pick up the tattered rabbit from the ground.

"Come on," Rick said sadly, running his hand down his face, "Let's get back to the others, maybe everyone made it out." He said hopefully and everyone nodded in agreement. Daryl glanced back the small dead child, and looked back at Johanna as Logan helped her up.

He didn't really know what came over him, but he didn't stop himself from pulling Johanna into his arms, and hugged her tightly, "I'm sorry." He murmured, thinking back to Sophia, thinking about what would happen when he found Jamie like that.

Daryl pulled away quickly, and let Logan handle Johanna now, telling them to move it along as he made his way back down the corridor, holding that rabbit in his hands.

҉

Rose was sitting at the bottom of the stairs, looking at the door where the others should be running out at, they need to come now, Daryl needed to bring Jamie back to her. She took in a breath when she heard their feet, and she stood up, moving all her weight to her good foot when Rick appeared, followed by Glenn, Daryl, the convicts, Logan and Johanna. But no Jamie.

"You didn't find them?" Hershel asked as Rose stared at Rick, not wanting to meet Daryl's eyes just yet, not wanting to look at Johanna just yet.

"We thought maybe they came back out here," Glenn said, and Rose turned her gaze to Logan and Johanna, noticing that Johanna was crying a bit.

"What about T?" Hershel asked, and Rose looked back at Rick, "Carol?"

_No, No, they couldn't be dead they couldn't._ Rose wasn't sure what was going on in her head, so many thoughts, so many emotions, she was going to break she could feel it.

"They didn't make it," Rose looked over at Daryl as she spoke up, feeling her lip quiver some.

"Jamie?" She finally spoke, looking at Johanna who closed her eyes, then to Daryl who took a step towards her, and she noticed the bunny in his hands, Jamie's bunny. Then it happened, something inside her just snapped, and she was on her knees, Daryl at her side just in time to stop her from falling all the way to the ground.

"No, not god no, Jamie." She sobbed into Daryl's chest and he held her tightly shaking his head as Johanna limped over.

"She might be okay Rose," She said, kneeling beside Rose, her hand going to her hair as Rose looked up at her, "Ryder was with her, they ran off, they could be okay." She said, but there was something in the way she said it that made Rose she didn't believe that.

"That doesn't mean the others didn't," Rick said quickly, "We're going back!" Rick shouted looking down at Daryl, "Daryl and Glenn you come with me," Rick never finished his sentence because the sound of crying filled the yard, and it wasn't Rose's. It was a baby's. Rose was able to calm herself enough to look to where the noise was coming from, and she saw Maggie, Maggie carrying a the tiny crying infant in her bloody arms, wrapped in what looked like a shirt. Carl was behind her, the expression on his face blank, and Rose shook her head. She watched as Maggie walked out slowly, trying to talk.

"Where is she? Wh-Whre is she?" Rick asked, and Daryl stood up, pulling Rose up with him as they watched. Maggie shook her head slowly, Rick going to head into the cell.

"No, Rick no!" She said, holding the baby in one arm and grabbing onto his shoulder to stop him. Rick finally stopped by Carl, dropping his gun as he began to cry, and Rose turned her head, burying her face into Daryl's chest when Rick started to sob, Daryl's arms tightening around Rose as she started to sink down to the ground again.

It never lasted, the happiness… Not in this world, you'd get one good thing and another one was taken. There was no winning, there was no living, there was only death.

_**Fuck this chapter guys.. I'm sorry, I cried way to much while writing this and I had to watch the episode again and I just. Ugh. Well, I wrote this in the matter of two nights, and I hope you al enjoy it! Let me know what you think? I love you all so much for putting up with me! Don't forget to review!_


	21. Wish You Were Here

The dead were loud; they're hunger pains echoing throughout the yard, bouncing off the walls and into the survivors' ears. Alongside those moans were sobs, ragged and broken, as those who had lost their loved ones mourned, never to see them again. Daryl remained silent though, holding Rose in his arms as she continued to sob, her entire body shaking, while Rick had gone into some sort of state of motionlessness, not even registering the fact his new born baby girl was crying a few steps away from him.

Daryl really didn't know what to do to help now, he had to find Jamie, that he knew, but he wasn't sure if she'd be alive or not. Last time he'd put all his hope into finding a lost girl, told himself she was alive even when it was unlikely, he got his heart crushed. He couldn't do that again, he couldn't take another Sophia… but it was Jamie, his little Jamie. The girl he'd grown to love, who had called him daddy by accident. He couldn't lose her, and he couldn't stand to see Rose lose her.

"Rosie," Daryl's voice was the first to break the silence, and he pulled away from her, taking her face in his hands, "You need to calm down baby." He whispered, wiping away the tears that continued to roll down her cheeks, "I'll find her, you know I will."

Rose didn't say anything, only stared at him before pulling away. Rose turned some, spotting the stairs behind her again and moved to sit there, rubbing her hands together as she tried to quiet herself down, turning her attention to Daryl, who walked over to Rick. Daryl called his name several time, but their fearless leader never responded. The baby's crying got louder, and Rose bit down on her lip, remember all the nights she spent awake, trying to calm Jamie down when she got sick.

Rose squeezed her eyes shut placing her palms onto either side of her head, trying to block out the crying when the group members begun to talk amongst themselves about their plans, what they were going to do, how to take care of the baby. Rose wasn't sure how long she sat like that, her back arched, her knees bent up with her face buried in them, her hands squeezing against her head. But she felt arms on her, she heard someone calling to her, and she raised her head a bit, seeing Daryl and Johanna standing before her. Logan stood a little bit behind them, watching her carefully, as if waiting for her to make a move and attack one of them.

"Rose, I've got to go with Maggie, we got to find the baby some food," Rose stared up at him, nodding her head, or at least she thinks she nodded her head, "I'll be back, Jo's gonna watch after you alright? Logan too." He said gripping her arms tightly making her stand on her feet.

Daryl handed her over to Logan, who wrapped his arm around her waist, supporting her when it seemed like she was going to give them any help. Daryl had never seen her like this, though she never went through something like this before. He watched as Johanna moved to Rose's side, her hand going to the back of her hair as they helped her up the stairs.

"Daryl," Maggie placed a hand on his shoulder, looking up at him when he turned, "She's going to be alright." Maggie said, her voice still a bit shaky and broken, but she tried to give him a smile. Daryl bit the inside of his cheek, nodding slowly. She'd be alright, Rose was strong… she had always been strong, and she was going to get through this…She had to be okay; she had to be for him.

҉

_It had been a week at least since Rose was attacked in her office. A week since she'd been able to go home. A week since she'd seen her father ripping apart her mother. A week since Jamie was able to sleep at night. And now, now she was running again. She was running away from those things, Jamie in her arms, crying._

"_Shush, baby it is okay." Rose whispered, stopping when she noticed a cement wall built around an air conditioning unit. It was perfect timing really, Rose needed a good place to hide Jamie, and there was no seeing her if she were to hide in there, in the very back corner. Rose looked behind her, noticing that they'd been able to get away from the things, the walkers; she had once heard someone call them. But there were a few in the distance, unaware of the two girls' presence luckily._

_She took in a breath and opened the gate, taking a step inside the cramped space and setting Jamie down as she shut the gate behind them. "Baby, I've got to go get the car."_

_Jamie's eyes widened and she shook her head, grabbing onto Rose's hand. "No, mama, no you can't! They'll get you!" _

_Rose smiled sadly, kneeling down in front of Jamie, "Nothing can get me Jamie, you know that." She whispers, and Jamie shakes her head, starting to cry harder._

"_Mama please, please don't leave me. Please." She cried, her hands going to her mother's face, absolutely terrified, "I don't want you to be one of those monsters, like grandpa. Please mama, stay with me." She sobbed and Rose felt the tears forming in her eyes._

"_Jamie honey," Rose started pulling her daughter into her arms, hugging her tightly as the girl continued to cry, "I will never leave you Jamie, not ever. I promise you." Rose said, pulling back, wiping some of the tears from her eyes._

"_Cross your heart?"_

_Rose smiled, nodding once before crossing her heart with her finger, "Cross my heart."_

Rose was in her bed, the one she shared with Jamie normally, lying on her side, her knees raised up into her chest and her arms wrapped around the tattered stuffed rabbit, "Never." She whispered to herself, the tears rolling down the bridge of her nose, falling onto the pillow, "Never, Never."

Johanna stood outside the cell, leaning against the bars as she listened to Rose carefully, hearing her repeating those words over again, before she heard Rose whisper her daughter's name. Johanna jumped some when she felt a hand on her shoulder.

"You scared me," Johanna whispered turning to see Logan who frowned, hearing Rose from inside the cell.

"Has she moved at all?" He asked moving to step inside the cell, wanting to try to talk to her but Johanna took his hand, shaking her head when he looked back at her.

"She hasn't, but she needs to be alone, just for a bit." She says sadly, looking down at her ankle Logan had wrapped up, "I should have stayed with them, if I had just… If I had just been faster, I could have gotten them to come back, Jamie would be here, and Rose wouldn't be like this." Johanna started to tear up, and Logan sighed.

"Jo, it's not your fault." He said sadly, taking her face in his hands, "There was nothing you could do, Ryder was protecting his baby, and you couldn't have done anything to stop him." Logan tried to force a smile, and Johanna nods, resting her head against Logan's chest.

"There's got to be something we can do," Logan whispered quietly, wrapping his arms around her waist when Johanna sighed.

"She just needs time," Johanna nods, "She thinks her daughter's dead, three of her friends just died, the father of her child maybe." Johanna whispers sadly, "It's a lot to take in at once."

Rose could hear them, their whispers about her. She wondered to herself if that were true, if in time she'd be okay again… She had lost Jamie, Ryder, Lori, T and Carol; it was a lot of death in one day… But Jamie, they didn't know if she hadn't made it, they didn't know, not unless they found her. That was it. She needed to find her. Rose had to find her daughter.

Rose was up, surprising both Logan and Johanna as she walked around her room, wiping at her eyes and grabbing her pistol from the little crate they used as a night stand, "Rose, you need to lay back down, you're ankle's still swollen." Logan said, noticing Rose's erratic movements, as she grabbed the machete from off the top bunk. "Rose," Logan went to grab her shoulder when Rose spun around, pointing the pistol directly at his forehead, the look on her face terrifying.

"Do not touch me," She said cocking the gun, Johanna feeling her heart drop as she watched the scene, "What cell block did you find Jo in?" Rose demanded, not dropping the gun from Logan's face.

"D, the one the prisoners were staying in." Logan said quickly, his voice a bit shaky from fear of Rose losing it. Rose looks at him for a second before dropping the gun and running out, pushing passed Johanna with ease. Johanna ran to follow, Logan frozen in his spot from shock while Rose made her way through their cell block, passing Hershel and Beth.

"Rose, Rose honey," Hershel called after her, "Rose where are you going?" He asked hobbling after her on his crutches, Beth following with the baby in her arms.

"To find Jamie." Rose said, undoing the chains from the cell door before disappearing in the dark, leaving Hershel, Beth and Johanna staring after her.

҉

_Jamie smiled shaking her head slowly as she laughed, watching as her mom picked on Daryl, the man's arms crossed over his chest as her mother continued to make gests at him about falling into the river. The three had went alone to wash up, the rest back at the camp, Beth cooking dinner with Lori and Maggie most likely, Rick was probably scouting the area, and Glenn was probably gathering firewood with Carol, T, and Hershel. Jamie hadn't seen her mom this happy in a really long time. She'd never seen her mom smile get that wide ever, except the time Jamie brought home the mug she'd made for her in art class. It wasn't even a very good mug, whenever Rose tried to use it the coffee would leak out… But her mom still seemed so happy whenever she drank from it._

"_Come on Daryl, don't be such a baby." Rose pestered, poking Daryl who sat by the river bed, soaking wet, glaring up at her when she continued to bother him._

"_I'm not being a baby," He grumbled, and Jamie laughed standing up in the water._

"_You kind of are Mr. Daryl." Jamie teased her hands going to her hips and Daryl looked over at her raising an eyebrow before standing up quickly, grabbing Rose from around the waist, tossed her over his shoulder and ran into the water straight for Jamie who tried to get away, but had no luck escaping Daryl's grasp._

"_I'll show you two who the real baby is." He laughed before tossing Rose into the river, who had managed to stay dry until now, and then threw Jamie in by her. Rose shot up first, sputtering as she shouted curses at Daryl who just laughed, calling her a baby before Jamie popped up, glaring at him to._

"_I didn't do anything!" Jamie laughed, gripping onto Rose's arm as Rose walked back towards the shore, Jamie only letting go when her feet could touch the ground._

"_You go back to swimming Jambo! I gotta deal with your momma!" Daryl laughed pointing at Jamie before moving away from Rose when she went to push him. Jamie rolled her eyes and fell back in the water, floating on her back while Rose tried to drag Daryl back into the water, only to end up kissing him instead._

"Just a little further baby," Jamie frowned, looking up at her dad as he led them through the forest, limping. He had no idea where he was going.

"Daddy, we've passed that tree already." Jamie sighed, crossing her arms over her chest, "Why can't we just go back to the prison? You're hurt; momma and Logan can fix it." Jamie suggested, looking around as they found a road, swallowing thickly. "Momma says not to go to roads unless you have a car."

Ryder sighed, Jamie had been going on and on about the prison… about how Rose was probably looking for her, how Mr. Daryl was going to be mad at him and how Rick was going to kick him out. But he didn't know how to explain to her that they were probably all gone, all dead. Even if they weren't Rose was, he saw it happen, and Jamie had no place there if her mother was dead… "Baby, mom would want me to keep you safe, and that's what I'm doing." He says turning to look back at her, noticing her eyes moving down to the large gash in his arm.

"Momma would want you to get that fixed," She said sadly, looking up at him, "It could draw walkers, get infected, all loads of things can happen to it." Jamie shrugged a bit, frowning again, "Mommy's going to be so mad…"

"Mommy's not going to be anything Jamie," Ryder said, kneeling down in front of her, Jamie sending him a puzzled look, "Your mom…" Ryder bit his lip, looking down at the ground for a moment, hearing Rose's screams in his head again, Johanna's, "Jamie, Rosie, she didn't make it." He said looking back up at her, his heart breaking at the look on her face as she shook her head, "Baby momma didn't make it."

Jamie shook her head more, her curls bouncing as she did it, trying to pull away from her father, "No, No momma's alive, she's alive! Those things can't get her! She's crossed her heart," She cried, scratching at her father's arms, "I can prove it! She's probably in the woods looking for me!" She fought and fought; only making Ryder hold onto her a little tighter.

"Jamie, no, you need to stay with me. I need to keep you safe," Jamie grabbed a hold of his wound, clutching onto it as tight as she could, her mother always told her to go for the weak spots, and Ryder was forced to let go, screaming out in pain as Jamie took off. "Jamie! Jamie don't!" He yelled, grabbing the gun from the ground and attempted to chased after her.

Jamie wasn't sure where she was running to, she wanted to run back to the prison, but she couldn't remember which way it was. Daryl would know how to get back, even her mother knew how to get back. But she didn't think Ryder would know. Jamie could hear her dad calling after her; he had hurt his leg pretty bad though, so maybe that's why he hadn't caught her yet. But he had stopped yelling for her, so maybe she was faster than she thought, that is until she saw to very strange men approaching her. She stopped dead in her tracks, looking up as a darker skinned man approached her on her left side and another man, black, came on her right. She stared at them wide eyes, trying to remember everything Rose had told her, everything she had taught her.

_Jamie smiles shaking her head slowly as her mother popped up in the window, making faces that were so funny Jamie's sides hurt from laughing before Rose opened up the door. She climbed in, quickly made sure that all the doors were locked, and turned the car off. She always left the tiny pink CD player they found playing softly, since Jamie couldn't sleep without sound._

"_Baby, I need to talk to you about today." Rose started, moving Jamie so she was on her lap, Rose leaning back against the pillow propped up against the car door, "I know… I know I promised I'd always be around… and I will… But just in case something happens where… where I'm not with you, I need you to know a few things."_

_Jamie frowns, nodding slowly as she glanced up at Rose, "Are these more rules?" She asked quietly and Rose laughs, nodding._

"_Yes, they sort of are." She says, brushing Jamie's curls from her face, "Rule number one: Never ever talk to strangers,"_

"_I already know that mommy!" She laughed, and Rose just smiled._

"_Good, but this one's a bit different, because you still talk to strangers Jamie," She says raising an eyebrow when Jamie tried to hide her smile, "You can't ever, absolutely ever talk to strangers Jamie, not unless I'm there." She says, and Jamie nods, "Good, now rule number two: always be prepared for the worst." Jamie's eyebrows furrowed together._

"_The worst?" _

_Rose nods, "The worst… it's not always going to happen, not since you have me… but if one day you don't, you need to remember that…" She says sadly, leaning her head back against the window, "Now the third and final rule," Rose sighed at this, and Jamie looked up at her curiously, "You need to always have a weapon baby, a gun…" Jamie's eyes widened at that, her mom never let her touch guns before._

"_Guns kill,"_

"_Exactly baby," Rose sniffled, Jamie frowning as she saw the tears rolling down her cheeks now, "People now baby… Some of them are real bad, and they will want to hurt you… So you need to hurt them first, but don't just… don't just hurt them, you've got to warn them, give them a chance to rethink." Rose said, and Jamie turned in her arms, wiping away the tears._

"_Give them a chance to rethink messing with a Waters girl?" Jamie smiled when Rose laughed, a few tears still falling, but she wiped them away, and pressed her lips to Jamie's forehead._

"_Exactly baby."_

Jamie smiled as she remembered her mother's rules, and before the men got any closer she pulled the gun from the holster around her waist, and pointed it at them.

"Don't move unless you wanna end up dead," Jamie said, but obviously it wasn't very intimidating, because the two men just looked at each other before laughing loudly.

"God that's precious," The lighter skin one laughed, his hands on his knees, "How old are you sweetheart? Six?" Jamie glared at him, not saying anything as she kept her gun raised.

"Come on now girl, we ain't gonna hurt you." The darker one said, taking a step forward, and Jamie distinctly remembered something her mom did once, and decided to try it. She shot the ground beside the man, and they both jumped, shouting curses at her.

"Hey!" There was a shout from behind them and Jamie turned quickly, and then someone grabbed her arm from behind, pulling the gun from her hands, "Well ain't 'cha a doll." The man's accent was sort of familiar, really thick, and really southern. Jamie glared up at him, jerking from the other man's hold, noticing now that the man who distracted her was holding on to Ryder, a knife placed against her father's neck.

"Now baby doll, you just calm down, ain't nobody gotta get hurt." The man said, and Jamie looked to her father, who nodded.

"No, momma said not to trust people! Daddy, he's got a knife on you!" Jamie shouted angrily, not understanding why her father wouldn't just listen to her.

"Jamie Lynn, you listen to me right now," Ryder said, his voice low and scared, "These men… baby, they're going to hurt us… just listen to them alright? Listen to them and everything will be fine."

The southern man snorted, "Jamie Lynn? Ain't that that one bitch's sister?"

The other men looked at him a bit confused, "What the fuck you talking about Merle?"

The southern man, Merle, only shrugged, "Pop culture was never my strong point boys, baby brother liked to spout out random facts when we was kids." He sighs shaking his head before looking back down at Jamie, "Now baby doll, you best listen to your daddy, I don't want to wind up having to hurt him anymore than he already is."

Jamie bit the inside of her cheek, looking around at the men, before nodding slowly, the man, Merle, grinning, "That's a girl." Merle moved the knife from Ryder's neck, and that's when Jamie noticed it… that the knife was built into his hand. "Now, where exactly are you two coming from?"

Jamie looked over at Ryder, Merle's good hand wrapped around the collar of his shirt, "North of here… We were staying at this motel," Ryder lied, he was lying? That was something mom would do. "A huge herd of walkers… they, they came and they got my wife." Jamie looked at the ground, the way he said it, he sounded so sad… could her mom really be dead?

"Well I'm sorry to hear that," Merle said letting go of Ryder's collar now, "You got any provisions?" Ryder shook his head, and Jamie just continued to frown, trying not to cry in front of those men, "That's a damn shame, could have been useful…" Merle muttered, looking over at his men, all of them sharing a look Jamie didn't understand, like they were talking to each other without actually talking, "Well we've got a place we can take you."

Jamie went to protest, momma would never allow that, never, she'd rather shoot all those men down dead before going to a place, "Is it safe?" Ryder asked, Jamie glaring at him.

"Safest place left on this shit hole," The lighter skin man said walking over to her dad, "I'm Martinez, this here is Shumpert, but you can just call him 'The Bowman'." Martinez directed the last bit towards Jamie, and she looked over at 'The Bowman', not impressed in the slightest.

"I'm Ryder, and this here is Jamie." Ryder said motioning to his daughter, who thought of another thing her momma did, a lot. She stuck up her middle finger and turned her back to them with a huff, Merle laughing.

"Boy, she sure is a firecracker, gonna be a real ball basher when she's older huh?" Merle laughed, and Ryder just nodded nervously, before Merle slapped a hand on his back, his non-lethal one, luckily.

"You two can hitch a ride with us, I'm sure the Governor would just love to meet you two." Ryder looked at the men confused, taking Jamie's hand in his when they lead him towards their trucks.

"The Governor?" He asked confused, moving to pick Jamie up in his arms when she seemed a bit sluggish.

"Yeah, he's in charge of the town, Woodbury, nice place, clean sheets, hot showers, warm meals, it's our uh," Merle chuckled, "Little slice of heaven in this hell hole."

Jamie found herself staring at the man's hand, his knifey-hand, and Merle noticed it too, "Cool ain't she?" Merle asked, holding up his arm, letting her stare at it a bit closer, "Had to cut it off myself, some bastard handcuffed me to a roof in Atlanta, left me for dead."

Jamie's eyes widened, "Sounds like a real nutcase." Ryder said, and Merle chuckled, nodding in agreement.

He had a southern accent, his name was Merle, he was a jerk, and he had no hand? To Jamie, that sounded a lot like the way Daryl had described his brother… But that couldn't be Mr. Daryl's brother… could it? Mr. Daryl liked pop culture?

҉

Daryl was back at the prison, the new born baby in his arms, shushing her softly, rocking her, trying everything he could to get the poor thing to calm down while Maggie and Beth fixed her a bottle. He glanced up when Beth walked over, and handed him the bottle, bouncing the girl a bit before holding the bottle to her mouth, smiling as she instantly started to suckle.

"Yeah," He praised smiling as he looked up at the group, who were all watching him, smiling, "She got a name yet?" He asked Carl who shrugged a bit.

"N-Not yet," He said looking up at Daryl, "I was thinking maybe Sophia…Carol too…" Daryl frowned as Carl started to list names, "Andrea, Amy, Jacqui, Patricia…Jamie," Daryl looked away at that, feeling his heart clench in his chest, remembering the little paper mache hands on the wall at the day care that had Jamie written on one, Sophie on another, "Or Lori... I dunno." Carl turns away, shaking his head and Daryl watches him, thinking about how much that boy just lost… his mother, the last friend he had his age, all in one day… The entire group had lost so many loved ones in only one day.

"You like that?" Daryl sighs, looking down at the baby again, not helping but to smile, "Huh? Little Ass Kicker?" Daryl looked around, noticing everyone smiling, "Alright, That's a good name right? Little Ass Kicker, you like that huh? You like that sweetheart?" Daryl smiled, looking up to try and find Rose's face, but she wasn't even in the room.

"Where is she?" He asked now, looking around the group, finally stopping on Johanna and Logan, who were supposed to be watching her, "Where's Rosie?"

Beth came over now, and took Little Ass Kicker from him, and he walked over to the two kids, "Where is she damn it?" He snapped and Johanna bit down hard on her lip.

"We uh, we don't know exactly," Logan said, swallowing down the lump in his throat as he squeezed Johanna's hand, Hershel coming over to mediate.

"Daryl," Hershel said, getting his attention before he could snap at the two, "Rosie… She, she drew a gun on them," He explained, Daryl's jaw tightening some, "She wanted to find Jamie… She ran into cell block D… We haven't heard a thing from her since."

Glenn walked over now, "I went in to look for her, for her and Rick… Rick's completely lost it, and Rose… I didn't even see her…"

Daryl shook his head, running his hand down his face, "We can't lose her." He muttered, looking around the group, "I'm going in there to look for her alright? You said she had a gun?"

Hershel nods, "Her machete too."

Daryl nods, "Then she's fine, I'll be back."

Daryl grabbed his crossbow from the table, glancing over at Little Ass Kicker briefly, before going into cell block D. Rose was going through things that Daryl understood, she didn't know whether or not her baby was dead. She wanted to know, so she went to find her. It was a reasonable thing to do, but not with an almost broken ankle, and a crazed state of mind. He sort of hoped he'd run in to Rick, maybe talk some since into him to, but he hadn't, and now he was heading straight for the area they'd found Johanna hiding up in the air vents. He stepped over the dead bodies, listening carefully to anything, footsteps, moaning, groaning, crying… he just needed to find out where she was. Then he heard it, a soft _tap, tap, tap, tap. _Like a rhythm of a song, coming from up the stairs.

He swallowed the bile rising in his throat from the smell, the anxiety, the fear of finding her dead, and ascended up the stairs littered with human remains. There was a door, slightly cracked open, and he walked over to it, peeking out and noticing bits of hair blowing in the wind, the tapping louder.

"Rosie," He called out softly, his crossbow still held high as he pushed the door open, showing her right hand drumming on the floor, her thighs, her knees, her swollen Barney like ankle, and finally her feet. He moved out the door, looking at her face. She looked okay, other than the deadpan stare she had going on… No walker eyes, no blood around her mouth, nothing to indicate she was turned.

"Rose, sweetheart, talk to me," He said, kneeling down in front of her, placing his hand on her knee. She then moved, and placed a small, dirty shoe on the top of his hand. He sucked in a breath as he stared at it, the pink converse, blood staining the side of it.

"This was all I could find left," Rose whispered, the first time he'd heard her voice since the attack, "Just this… this shoe." She bit her lip, closing her eyes as tears started to roll down her blood stained cheeks.

"Where'd you find it?" He asked, still staring at the tiny blood stained shoe.

"Bottom of these stairs," She said looking down them, staring at the walker, the one she killed that had the shoe beside it, "I think… I think it ate my baby."

Daryl shook his head, "No… No it didn't." He said, picking the shoe up in his other hand, examining it closer. "You found it untied?" He asked, and Rose sent him a look, "Did you find it untied?" She rolls her eyes, more tears falling as she nods, "Maybe… Maybe Ryder and her were running, her shoes untied… so it falls off, but they keep going."

Rose shrugged, "Maybe… But where are they now?"

Daryl chewed on the side of his lip, standing up slowly, "Out the fence…" He suggest and Rose just looks at him.

"How would they get out the fence Daryl? It's not like they could climb over it, or… or break through." She closes her eyes, and Daryl looked down at her.

"No," He muttered and grabbed her hand, forcing her to stand up, "You are not giving up on this Rosie." He says, reaching down and picked up her machete, holding it out for her, "This is your daughter! This is Jamie, and Jamie was taught by you." He says, snapping his fingers, getting her to look at him, "If anything, Jamie dragged Ryder through all this, found a way to get out, and did."

Rose stared at him, she wanted to believe it, she truly did… But Jamie, she was only seven, she was only 3'5, barely weighed sixty pounds, Ryder had never been out in the world, not enough to know the ropes already..

"Rose, come on." Daryl said, grabbing her hand, and dragged her down the stairs. She didn't protest, or try to pull back, just let him drag her around, remaining silent when they spotted a few walkers.

Daryl took the few stragglers out, letting of Rose's hands to knell to the ground, noticing the dirt kicked up, some grass flattened down, "Tracks."

"There's walkers," She says shaking her head, "It's probably theirs." Daryl glared over at her, before standing back up, taking her hand in his again as he followed the tracks, dead walkers littered around it, and he smiled a bit, "Look here Rose." He says taking her hand and pointing at the walker, it had a hole in his neck, "Jamie ain't quite tall enough to get the head," He says, kneeling down, "Someone finished it off with a knife, doesn't Ryder have that butterfly knife?" He looked up at Rose, noticing her eyes light up a bit.

"Y-Yeah, he does… It was his dad's." She mutters, following after Daryl by her own choice now until they reached the fence and Daryl laughed happily, Rose trying to find what caused it.

"Someone dug under this fence a bit," Daryl says, kneeling down, "Looks like it was small enough for Jamie to squeeze under," Daryl stood up quickly, looking up at the top of the fence, seeing the piece of fabric flapping in the wind, "And it looks like Ryder decided to jump it, nicked his arm, or back or something on the barbed wire, and fell right there, probably broke something." Daryl mused, turning to look at Rose, seeing her hand over her mouth.

Rose felt herself smiling as she stared at the ground, looking at Daryl briefly before clapping her hands together, "Jamie's alive!"

Daryl grinned as she grinned, looking at all the signs he had pointed out, "We've got to find her." Rose said looking over at Daryl, "She's out in those woods, Ryder's not going to know how to do anything!"

Daryl nods, "First thing in the morning, after you rest, eat, and shower." He says, and Rose shakes her head.

"We can't just leave her out there Daryl," Rose whispers, looking into the trees, hoping to maybe catch a glimmer of blonde curls.

"Jamie's smart," Daryl said, looking behind Rose as he spotted a few walkers in the distance, "She'll know what to tell Ryder to do, what plants they can eat… But they couldn't have gotten to far, you and I will go out first thing in the morning, and bring them back."

Rose nods slowly, "Jamie's okay." She whispered, smiling a bit still, "We need to find her Daryl." She says looking back over at him, and he nods taking her hand in his.

"We will Rosie."

҉

Jamie wasn't sure why the men had taken her and her father to this place… Why they were being so… nice. They didn't look nice, not at all. Especially the man who she thought was Daryl's big brother. But she couldn't just judge them, momma would probably be mad… or maybe she'd be mad she didn't judge them… She was always so confusing. Jamie sat on a bed, a real, actual, soft, bed. She couldn't believe it.. They even had baths, HOT baths.

Jamie smiled a little, trying to braid her hair her mama always did it… something to do with fish she thought? She didn't really understand what fish had to do with hair, but she always thought it was pretty.

There was a knock at the door, and Jamie jumped, pulling her fingers from her hair and hurried over to the other side of the room as the door opened, a man stepping in.

"Hello," He said, his voice was really soft, and friendly. But Jamie stayed in the corner of the room, staring up at the man as he walked in, the door shutting behind him, "Don't worry honey, I'm just here to talk."

Jamie narrowed her eyes at him, "Where's my daddy?"

The man smiled, sitting in the rocking chair in the corner of the room, "He's in the infirmary, the doc's cleaning up his wound and setting his knee back in place." He said, leaning forward in the chair now, "Mind telling me what exactly happened to you and your daddy?"

Jamie chewed on the inside of her cheek, trying to think, "We…" She started, her dad had said a motel… north, "We were at this motel… I think in the north." Jamie twisted her lips, scratching at her arm nervously, "Those monsters… they came, and they killed our friends… they killed my mama." The tears that sprung from Jamie's eyes weren't fake, and she tried her hardest to keep from crying to hard in front of the stranger, "Daddy was almost… he almost got eaten by one of those things, he fell off the roof of the motel," She said looking over at her dirty clothes piled in the middle of the floor, her only shoe there, "I lost my shoe jumping down… and when he caught me… my knife cut him."

The man frowned, "I'm sorry that happened to you sweetheart," He said, looking over at her as she sniffled, wiping her eyes, "You're very brave you know? How old are you?" He asked curiously.

"Seven," Jamie said pulling at her sleeves, "I'll be eight in June…"'

"Wow, well, you're dad should be getting better soon… and since it's just the two of you, I was thinking of offering you guys a chance to stay." Jamie didn't say anything, only stared, "There are kids your age here." He offers, and she bit her lip, "You'll get your own apartment with your dad, the two of you could be happy again here."

Jamie smiles a little, "What's your name mister?" She asks, and the man smiles.

"You can just call me the Governor."


	22. Helplessness Blues

_**It's been awhile huh guys? But guess what, I am finally back, and I will hopefully be updating this story once every two weeks, or even once every week! Fair warning this chapter has quite a bit of F-bombs being dropped, and just all around not happy things… But, bear with me. I love you all so much! Thank you for being patient with me and my incompetence, don't forget to review!_

Woodbury was one of those places in this world you'd kill to be part of, literally. Everyone who'd gotten to stay there had sacrificed something to find it, and those who hadn't were just the lucky ones. The Governor's guards were the most feared, and the most looked up to in the town. They kept the population safe, provided food, and kept peace within the walls. The Governor was the master mind of it all, pulling strings here and there, tying up loose ends. He was the man behind the curtain, the one running it all, and everyone loved the Governor. All of them were completely unaware about the man who hid underneath charm and dimples. Philip Blake was a lot of things, but kind? That wasn't one of them.

The people who he'd let in the town were strays he found on sides of roads when he and his original group went out for provisions, they had nothing to offer him, nothing but people to follow him. So he brought them in, but when he ran across people that could be potentially useful to him, or threatening. He made sure they would cause a problem, and that's exactly what Ryder was. Potential use, a threat, someone he was going to have to mold and shape into the perfect solider. The Governor had no interest in the family of two when Merle brought them in, it was odd they were wandering around in a forest; it was odd they had no luggage. But according to their stories their group was over runned, at a motel in the north. But the Governor and his men had just been in the north, and everything there was dead… Dead and rotting and eating anything it was able to get its hands on. The only motel there was filled with burnt corpses. So obviously they were both lying.

It would have been easier to get the information out of the young girl, but Philip may have been heartless, but there was just something about her that stopped him from harming her. She was young, sassy, and so intelligent… A lot like his Penny. So rather than prodding and emotionally tormenting the poor girl, he decided the best approach was to take her under his wing. While the girl's father was being fixed up in the 'infirmary'.

"What do you want?" Ryder shouted out from behind the door they had locked him in, his arm still bleeding, and his ankle still swollen, "Just let us go!" He slammed his fists against the door over and over again, leaving bloody knuckle marks against it until he finally stopped, his hands stretching out over the cool metal.

When they brought them into the town, it was like entering heaven. People were walking around, they greeted them, asked their names, and Jamie actually looked happy when she spotted a few little girls. But then Merle, the one with the knife for a hand had separated them. Took Ryder to wherever he was, and Jamie, he had no idea where they took Jamie.

He was supposed to be taking care of her, he promised Rose, he promised her before she was killed by those things. He had to keep her safe; he had to get out of this town with her before it was to late.

҉

Their footsteps were quiet as they tracked through the woods, Daryl's crossbow raised up high, Rose with her rifle hanging from her back, machete in hand, her eyes lingering on the tracks that Ryder and Jamie had made as they blindly ran through the trees. If Jamie had her way, she would have had Ryder go back towards the prison, but Rose knowing Ryder knew that he'd deem the place unsafe, and wouldn't even know how to get back if he thought it was safe.

"Looks like they went straight for the road," Daryl muttered, taking out a walker in front of them, Rose frowning.

"Jamie wouldn't have gone onto the road," She says, "She would have forced Ryder to find another way, though who knows if Ryder would've listened." She sighs, shaking her head as she moved to walk beside Daryl, glancing at him as he put his foot on the head of the walker, and yanked his arrow from its skull, making a sound of disgust.

"Damn, ripped the head clean off." He grumbled throwing the broken arrow to the ground, and loaded up the crossbow again, "Your man doesn't have any skills on navigation?" He asked, Rose sending him a look.

"My man? Really?" Daryl shrugged, knowing she knew he was just teasing, trying to get her to feel a bit better, but she just shook her head, not even cracking a smile, and "Ryder's useless in the wilderness, if anything all he knows how to do make a bong out of tree bark and deer shit." She says, earning a laugh from Daryl as they reached the road.

Rose looked for walkers before stepping onto the pavement, trying to see any trace of Jamie, some sort of clue, anything say that she went this way, Daryl sighing behind her.

"They probably headed east; Jamie probably remembered the town we stayed at for a few days." He tried, but Rose shook her head, her hand tightening around the hilt of her weapon.

"Jamie knows better," She says, "She wouldn't have gone with him without a fight." Daryl nods as he looks back to the ground, noticing the blood in the sand.

"Hey Rosie," He says snapping his fingers as he knelt down, Rose coming over to him, "Jamie's got your temper, she gets mad and she lashes out right?" He says, Rose nodding, "She also knows when you want to get away, you go for the weak spots," He points to the dried blood pool soaking the sand, "Ryder was hurt, Jamie digs her fingers into his wound, then takes off," His voice trailed off as he turned, scanning the ground, smiling a bit as he noticed the other tracks leading away from the road, "Off into the woods, come on, this way." He says as he stands back up, and snatched her hand up, the two darting away from the pavement to follow Jamie's trail.

҉

Jamie stayed close to the nice lady she met named Karen, who was showing her around the town. The Governor still hadn't let her daddy come and see her, and Jamie was scared. She didn't know any of these people, and they were all so strange… they didn't look scared at all, they didn't carry weapons, and they didn't even have any dirt on them.

"Why's everyone starin' at me?" Jamie whispered up to Karen who smiled looking down at Jamie, her hand going to the girl's hair.

"They're just not used to seeing a seven year old girl carrying a gun," She says, Jamie nodding as she turned her attention back to the people staring. She had refused to give up her gun, made a big enough fuss about it that the Governor let her keep it, until she trusted the people that were caring for her.

"There's nothing to be worried about honey," Karen said as she led Jamie towards the small park that was made, "Everyone here is nice, no one's going to hurt you here."

Jamie shook her head, "There's always something to worry about." She stated, Karen frowning some. It was sad to her to know that such a young child had experienced so much.

"Karen!" Jamie stopped dead in her tracks when she heard a familiar voice, Karen turning with the girl, smiling at the sight of Andrea.

"Hey Andrea! I'm just showing Jamie here around town for the Governor." She called out, Andrea slowing in her steps, her eyes tearing up.

"Jamie?" She called out, Jamie putting her hands over her mouth when she felt the tears building up in her eyes as Andrea walked over, and knelt to the ground in front of her, pulling the girl to her, "Oh Jim Jam! I can't believe it's you." She cried, her hand going to the girl's hair, holding her close.

Jamie wrapped her arms around Andrea's neck, being in her arms reminding her of her mother… her mother… who had died.

When Jamie busted into tears, Andrea's grip on the girl tightened, picking her up off the ground, assuming the reason for the girl's heavy tears and sobs to be something horrible, "Karen, Jamie is my friend's daughter." Andrea said, stroking the child's hair.

Karen nods frowning, "I'll leave you two alone," She whispers, "The Governor wants her back in his home by one." She said, placing a hand on Andrea's shoulder, "I'm sorry." She whispered, Andrea nodding as she turns, and heads over to the empty bench across the street, away from any listening ears.

Andrea set Jamie down, and knelt down in front of the girl as she continued to sob, wiping at her eyes, "Baby tell me what happened." She whispered, reaching forward to brush the tears from her cheeks as Jamie's little hands balled up into fists.

"Mommy…" She choked up, wiping at her eyes, "Momma was trying to save me… she was, and she, daddy said she was eaten." She sobbed, and Andrea frowned, leaning forward to press a kiss to the girl's head.

"What about Daryl? Where's he?"

"I-I don't know, Daddy took us away… made us leave because there were so many walkers." Andrew's eyebrows furrowed together.

"Daddy? baby, are you not talking about Mr. Daryl?" She asked, taking Jamie's hands in hers as she shook her head again.

"No… I'm talking about my actual daddy, Ryder." She sniffled looking up at Andrea.

"Ryder? You guys found Ryder? Where?" She asks, and Jamie opens her mouth, going to say talk about the prison before she realized that it was a secret. Ryder had said they were at a motel… Ms. Andrea had been gone so long… she would surely tell that scary man about where they were…

"At a motel," She murmurs, Andrea staring at her for a moment, and Jamie bit her lip, before bursting into tears again, only faking it this time. She was sad, but there was a chance that her mother might be alive still, Mr. Daryl too, and everyone else… and if her mother was there, she wouldn't want Jamie to tell anyone about the prison, not even Ms. Andrea.

҉

Ryder sat at the metal table that was in the room, his head hung low, staring at the handcuffs around his wrists. It seemed like he had just gotten out of the routine of being thrown into a tiny cell, but here he was again, back in the same routine he'd grown so accustomed to.

"So, Mr. Marks… are you ready to cooperate with me?"

Ryder raised his head, staring at the Governor, the man staring back at him with a strange smile on his face, and an evil glint in his eyes.

"Go fuck yourself asshole." He barked out throwing himself forward some, the Governor not even flinching, but he did sigh.

"Come on now Mr. Marks, I apologized for the rough handling my men displayed," He said politely, glancing down at Ryder's hands, "Though those there were your own causing, if you had just waited patiently you wouldn't be so injured."

"Don't patronize me you sadistic fuck," He spat out, "Give me my fucking daughter back, and let us go!" He shouted, and the Governor just sighed again shaking his head.

"I'm sorry Mr. Marks, but I can't do that." He said, folding his hands on the table, "You see, your daughter is very upset," He said softly, "Her mother just died, like you said, and honestly if she were to see you like this she'd be even more traumatized, don't you think."

Ryder lunged across the table, his hands going for the Governor's neck when he felt the shock of electricity shoot through his body, and he fell to the ground, convulsing.

The Governor stood up now, clicking his tongue as he waved the taser around, showing what had caused Ryder the shock, "Ryder, your life is in my hands," He says kneeling down next to the man, "Yours, and your daughters." He said, smiling as he saw the rage flashing in the man's eyes, "Next time you try to attack me, just think about that."

҉

Daryl stood beside Johanna, frowning a bit as he watched Rose from his spot upstairs. They found more tracks deeper in the woods, five sets of them, meaning most like Ryder and Jamie had met up with people, and left with them. Since getting back to tell the group Rose hadn't spoken a word to anyone. Rick was back in action, sort of, and the rest of the group was dealing with their loses.

"She'll be okay," Johanna whispered catching Daryl's attention as he looked down at the young girl, "Jamie and Rose both." She said, sounding so sure of it, "They're strong girls… and I don't think there's anything in this world that could keep them apart."

Daryl nods slowly, biting at his thumb nail as he looked back towards Rose, who was being bothered by Logan now, demanding that she let him change her bandages.

"Rose is close to ripping your boyfriend's head clean off," He chuckles watching as the two medics started to argue with each other about what treatment she needed, and Johanna sighed.

"Logan's stubborn," She says shaking her head, "Always trying to get his way, no matter what."

Daryl nods, "Rosie's the same way."

Johanna smiles, laughing just a bit when Rose punched Logan in the arm, making him let out a strange noise before she kicked her leg up.

"Fucking change it then before I punch you in the throat, damn kid." Rose yelled, crossing her arms over her chest angrily, Daryl laughing now as he shook his head.

"I'm not a kid," Logan grumbled, setting his kid down on the ground as he knelt in front of Rose, briefly glancing over at Glenn and Maggie when they came over.

"Rose, we're heading into town for a supply run," Glenn said scratching the back of his head, Rose looking up at him.

"We were thinking that you could come with us, we can look for Jamie while we're out." Maggie explained, and Rose nods.

"Yeah of course, once this doofuse is done fixing up my leg I'll get my stuff and we can head out." She says, smiling just a bit for their sake.

"Works for us," Glenn says, returning her smile, Daryl and Johanna heading down towards the small group forming around Rose.

"What's going on?" Daryl asked, sitting down beside Rose when she winced, kicking Logan in the knee with her good leg.

"Careful squirt, you can't be so rough, and don't have it so tight either, you want compress it, not cut off my circulation." Logan looked up at Rose, his eyes a little wide.

"I know how to wrap a sprained ankle _Rose_."

"Obviously not_, Logan._"

"Would you two give it a rest already," Johanna groaned, "You're both good at what you do, stop fighting over it, you're stressed, and your silly arguing is just making it worse." Johanna said, Logan frowning as he nods, and Rose rolling her eyes.

Daryl looked back over at Rose, "You should get some rest after this." He says, and Rose shakes her head.

"Can't going on a milk run with them." She said pointing over at Glenn and Maggie, Daryl going to argue, "Don't even, you've got work to do here, and I need to be useful, plus I can look for Jamie too." Rose said now, everyone frowning just a bit at mention of the missing girl as Daryl sighs.

"Alright," He says quietly, chewing on the inside of his cheek as he scratched at his chin, "Just… don't do anything stupid"

Rose smiles some, "When do I ever?"

"Always." The entire group said, and Rose raised her eyebrows.

"Fuck all ya'll then."

҉

Jamie and Andrea had talked for a long time… Jamie thinks she was able to convince Andrea about the motel, the more she cried, the more Andrea believe her, and Andrea was obviously close to the Governor, so maybe her friend would be able to convince him that her daddy was telling the truth. But now she was in the Governor's apartment, poking around in his belongings while he cleaned up in the bathroom.

She didn't want to stay with the Governor one bit, he was… he was scary to her, and there was no way her mother would trust someone like him. "Jamie," Jamie jumped when she heard his voice, and she turned quickly, moving away from the dressed she'd been looking through, "It's not polite to rummage through people's belongings." He said as he closed the drawer.

"Momma always said the best way to get to know someone is to sneak around while they're away," Jamie said, crossing her arms across her chest, raising her head proudly.

"Your momma sounds like she was a dangerous woman." The Governor chuckled, and Jamie nods, frowning a little as she looked back to the ground.

"Where's my daddy?" She asked now, looking up at him as he sighed.

"He's unconscious still darlin'," He said, "He was badly injured you know, lost a lot of blood, it might be awhile until he's back to normal." Jamie frowns.

"Why can't I see him?"

"A girl your age shouldn't see somethin' like that."

Jamie glared up at him, "I'm sure I've seen a lot more than you think mister, you don't know nothin' about me." She yelled, pointing at him, "My momma and I saw a lot of bad things, and a lot of my friends died… there's nothing that scares me." She yells, and stomps away from him, heading towards the window.

The Governor watched Jamie carefully, shaking his head as the girl stared at the window, before her head fell, and she sniffled, "I just wanna see my daddy."

He frowns, and crosses the room over to her, placing a hand on her shoulder, making her jump some, "In time honey, you'll just have to be with me for now." He said, and Jamie bit her bottom lip, squeezing her eyes shut to stop the tears. She didn't want to be with him, she didn't like him.

"My momma would hate you." She whispers, and the Governor chuckled just a bit.

"I doubt that."

҉

"We just hit the powdered formula jackpot." Glenn said, and Rose laughed quietly, shaking her head as she filled her bag with some baby food that hadn't expired just yet. Little ass kicker might not be able to eat it yet, but there was some tasty choices in the bunch, surprisingly enough.

"Thank god," Rose heard Maggie say from outside while the two started to load up the truck, "Rosie don't be long!" Maggie called, peeking into the store.

"Almost done here," Rose called back, moving around the old store, snatching a few more choice items, her machete in hand as always, hearing Maggie and Glenn talking happily together.

"And where is it ya'll good people calling home!?" Rose froze when she heard a man call out to them, and she zipped her bag up quickly, crouching down as she tried to make it to the window without him seeing. They didn't need this right now! They had to get back to the prison, and Rose had to find Jamie.

"Merle?" Rose heard Glenn call out to the man, and Rose felt her heart drop, Daryl's brother, there was no way. She wanted to run out there, but Daryl had told her a few things about the man, and he wasn't the safest, nor the friendliest of rednecks.

Rose made it to the door, hearing Merle laughing as he set down his gun, walking towards them hands, well hand and knife raised up in the air, "Hey! Back the hell up!" Maggie shouted, and Rose moved towards him quickly, placing her machete into the sheath, and pulled out her pistol instead, cocking in and making Merle look at her.

"Well, ain't'chu a pretty young thang'." Rose raised an eyebrow, smirking.

"Nice to meet you Merle," She says tilting her head to the side, Merle smiling his hands up in the air still.

"You seem like a civil person miss," Merle said, turning to her now, her gun, and the others guns still drawn on them, "Can you talk them for me sweetheart, convince them I ain't here for no harm."

Rose shook her head, "Sorry buddy, but I don't know you; now you just talk to my friend Glenn here about whatever it is you want." Rose said, gesturing her gun over to Glenn, and Merle nods.

"Fair enough," He said looking back over to Glenn.

"You made it," Glenn muttered, and Merle smiled. Rose bit her lip, knowing well enough that Glenn and Merle probably had some bad history, praying to god that this wouldn't end with them killing Daryl's brother.

"Can you tell me, is my brother alive?" Rose smiled for some reason, lowering her gun just a bit. This was Daryl's brother; he was family, whether or not he was a stranger.

"Yeah," Glenn said, nodding, Merle smiling bigger now.

"You take me to him, and I'll call it even on everything that happened there in Atlanta, no hard feelings." Rose looked over to Glenn, biting her lip, when he didn't lower his gun at all, looking at Merle's knife-hand-thing, making the man laugh.

"You like that," He asked waving his knife-hand-thing just a bit, Rose furrowing her eyebrows as he looked over at her, then back at Glenn, "Well uh, I found myself a medical supply warehouse, fixed it up myself, pretty cool huh?"

"We'll tell Daryl you're here, and he'll come out and meet yah." Glenn said and Merle started to object, making his way a bit closer to them, causing Glenn and Maggie to panic some, Rose moving closer to Merle.

"The fact we found each other is the miracle." He said, glancing over at Rose again, making her nervous, "Come one now, you can trust me."

"You trust us, you stay here." Merle let out a little chuckle, and Rose glanced over at Glenn just for a brief second, before Merle moved towards her, pulling a gun out of the back of his pants, and grabbed her wrist, knocking the gun out of her hand as she shot it, and paced his knife-hand-thing to her throat, and the other gun to her head.

"Sorry about this angel, no hard feelings." Merle said as Rose struggled in his hold, only making him press the knife closer to his throat.

"Stop! Stop Merle let her go!" Glenn said now, him and Maggie both pointing their guns at them and Merle cocked the gun.

"Ah, ah, ah you two, one foul move and pretty girl here gets her brains blown out." He said smirking.

"D-Don't!" Rose begged, "Please, I have a daughter." She cried.

Glenn watched with wide eyes as Rose broke down, and Merle started to shush her, telling her it was gonna be alright as long as her friend's listened… Glenn couldn't stand to see her like that, Rose never broke down when her life was in threat, she fought back, she didn't give in, she didn't. "Merle, you hurt her you hurt Daryl." Glenn said, lowering his gun, glancing at Maggie, gesturing for her to do the same.

Merle raised an eyebrow, before laughing, "No way! My brother went out and got himself a nice piece of ass?" He laughed loudly shaking his head, "Damn baby bro, already moved on without me." He chortled shaking his head.

"Let her go, and, and we can talk about this." Glenn said, and Merle chuckled shaking his head, "GET IN THE CAR." He shouted now, pointing his gun at them, pressing the knife against Rose's throat, "Drop your damn guns, and get in the car!"

Rose watched as Glenn and Maggie dropped their guns, and stepped back, Rose cursing in her mind before grabbing onto Merle's blade, and stepped on his foot as hard as she could, Glenn turning around suddenly, and darted for his gun as the two began to struggle, Maggie charging towards him to help.

Merle quickly discovered that Rose was putting all her weight on her left foot, and kicked her as hard as he could in her right ankle, which brought her to the ground, and he blocked Maggie's blow pulling her to him, his gun to her head now, and his foot on Rose's ankle.

"Think about this for a second chinaman," Merle said as Glenn watched, his eyes wide, "You make a wrong move, and I kill your bitch, then you." He said, pressing his foot down harder on Rose's ankle, "Baby brother ain't gonna be to happy if I kill his girl so, she'll just come with me, but you two are expendable." He said tilting his head to the side, and Glenn bit his lip, "Set your gun down, and get into your car." Glenn grinded his teeth, looking at the girls, before doing as told. Once he was in the car, Merle moved his knifed hand to Maggie's back, and put his gun into its holster, leaning down and picked Rose up by the shirt.

"Come on now girls, you three are coming home with me."


	23. Hell In Your Eyes

_**This chapter is on the shorter side, but it packs a punch... Fair warning the themes in this chapter are much darker, and much more mature than previous chapters. I've never written anything like this before, so I apologize, but it's all about character development guys. Thank you so much for reading and don't forget to review!_

"What did you say the girl's name was?" The Governor asked, turning to Merle when he mentioned the third person he brought in.

"Rose, from what they told me, apparently she's my brother's lady friend." He said chuckling, "Real pretty, feisty too, says she's got a missing daughter." He says, and Philip nods.

"Jamie's mother name was Rose." He said shaking his head, "You talk to Rose yet?" He asked and Merle shook his head.

"Not since bringing her here, she's been listening to the others though, making a few nasty comments too." He said with a nod, Phillip leaning against the truck.

"You go talk to Rose," He said turning to Merle, "Don't hurt her though, don't mention Andrea or Jamie either, just try and get her to say where her people are. I'll go talk to the other girl, "He said before stopping again, "Actually, once you're done with her I want you to move Ryder into her room, chain him up, I'll be paying them a visit after.

Merle nods slowly, watching as the Governor made his way back into the building, and he scratched at his chin thinking for a moment before heading in after the man.

҉

Rose took in a breath, trying to keep herself calm after hearing what Merle had been doing to Glenn in the next room. Daryl said he was ruthless but this, this was downright psychotic… he was nothing like Daryl at all. She bit her lip hard when she thought of Daryl, shaking her head as she stretched her hands onto the table, doing her best to remain calm. She didn't know how she was going to get out of this, Daryl was an amazing tracker but, her chances were slim, and she had to just pray that Merle would find it in his heart not to kill her.

Rose jumped when the door opened, Merle walking in a smug look on his face, "How you doing there pretty girl?" He asked, setting a cup of water down in front of her, Rose only glaring at him, "Awh man, I made a bad impression didn't I? Sorry about that." He said as he sat down in the chair across from her smiling, "Glenn's alright, in case you were wondering."

Rose shook her head, "What the fuck is the matter with you?" She asked, "How could you do that too him?"

"What you don't know the story?" He asked raising an eyebrow as he leaned back in the chair and Rose rolled her eyes.

"Yeah I know the story, gotta say though the way I heard it you had it coming, and now you're all butt hurt over it cause you lost a hand." She said nodding towards his knifed stub, "Your own damn fault."

Merle laughed shaking his head, "Man my baby brother picked himself out a good one. Smokin' hot, curses like a sailor, and don't give a fuck about no one." He says, smirking, "But your family of course, true bred southern girl aren't you?"

Rose shrugs, "Through and Through."

Merle laughs again shaking his head, "Why don't you tell me where my brother is baby girl?" He asked, "I miss his sorry hide, bet he misses me too."

Rose bit her lip, shaking her head, "No can do buddy, you should have listened to Glenn back at the store." She says with a shrug, "Now Daryl's just gonna find out what you did, and hate you for it."

Merle shakes his head, "I doubt that, sure he'll be pissed about Chinaman, but I haven't hurt you one bit, 'cept of course the few minor details involved with getting' you here." He says smiling just a bit, "Ima make sure nothin' happens to you sweetheart, Daryl's gone off and settled down, warms my heart." He joked, gesturing towards the cup of water, "Go ahead and drink up, got you some food comin' soon too."

Rose glanced over at the cup, "You seen a little girl?" She asked turning her attention back to him as she pulled her hand back, and reached into her pocket, pulling out the picture she had, "She's seven, acts tough, real smart." She says pushing the picture towards him, which Merle took, recognizing Jamie instantly, and smiled.

"Well ain't she a cutie," He said with a small laugh, handing the picture back to her, "This your missing daughter right?" He asks, and she nods putting the picture back into her pocket, "Im sorry to say but I ain't seen no one like that around here, though I'm sure I can have the governor keep an eye out for her." He says smiling softly, "Bet Daryl loves her, he's always had a soft spot for youngins."

Rose nods, "Who's the governor?" She asks now, and Merle smiles.

"The Governor is the man that runs this place darlin," He says with a firm nod, "Real good man, takes care of his people, and is always lookin' to bring in more." He added, giving her a knowing look as she pursed his lips, "Could be a safe place for you and your friends… Give me a chance to be an uncle too." He said playfully and Rose could help but smile a little in spite of herself, "Was that a smile? Man oh man, I bring up you and Daryl makin' babies and you turn into a school girl." He laughed tipping his chair back some as Rose rolled her eyes, "Come on now Rosie, just help me out… reunite us Dixon brothers."

Rose sighed shaking her head, "I can't." She says meeting his eyes, "You know I can't… I don't know you people Merle, I can't trust you people… if you were in my shoes you wouldn't say a word either." She shrugs, "Beg all you want, but I'm not saying a word."

Merle purses his lips nodding slowly before letting his chair fall back to the ground, "Alright baby girl, you win this round." He says as he stands up, "But darlin', I'm warning you… The Governor, no matter what I ask or say, ain't gonna be as nice as I've been." He said serious now, "Be careful what you say to around him." He noticed the fear flicker in her eyes before regaining her composure, and he gave her a smile, "See you around Rosie." He said and left the room, sighing as he shook his head. Damn girl was going to get herself killed.

҉

Jamie sighed, pushing her empty plate away from her as she laid her head down on the picnic table, swinging her feet. They still hadn't let her see her daddy, they hadn't even told her anything about her dad as of lately, and Jamie was getting tired of it. She tried to think of what her mother would have done, if she was stuck in this place full of strangers, but she couldn't think of anything… or at least nothing she was capable of doing.

She wondered how Mr. Daryl was now, how he was dealing with… with her mother being dead and her being gone. He was probably really sad, and she really wished she could go back to the prison and be with him.

"Jamie?" Jamie perked up when she heard Andrea's voice, and she turned, smiling as the blonde came over and sat beside her, "How was your lunch?" She asked, Jamie shrugging.

"Fine," She mumbles turning to face Andrea, crossing her legs, "Did Mr. Governor say anything about my daddy?"

Andrea frowns shaking her head, "From what Phillip told me honey… your father, his condition's worsened." She said, placing her hand on Jamie's legs, "He's been put on life support."

Jamie's eyebrows creased together, shaking her head slowly, "I.. I don't know what that means…"

Andrea sighed, "It means… It means he might not make it."

Jamie's eyes widened, her lip quivering some as she nods, pulling her knees up to her chest, forcing herself not to cry, but Andrea pulled the girl into her lap, holding her close, and Jamie closed her eyes, trying to think of how she was going to be able to get back to Mr. Daryl… She had to get back to him.

҉҉

Daryl stood outside the prison, waiting for the others to have their things packed up, he realized his foot was tapping, that he was so nervous that he thought his heart was going to jump out of his chest. Rose was gone, she was gone and he didn't know if she was alright, if she was bit, if she was being… being hurt by those men that took her. All he knew there was a world of things that could be happening, or had happened to her.

He should have fucking been there, to keep her safe, to make sure that bastard didn't touch her. But he wasn't there, he let her go on her own when he knew he should have gone too.

"Daryl," Daryl heard Jo calling his name and he turned, seeing her given him a weak smile, "How are you holding up?" She asks walking over to him, and he let out a grumble, turning away from her again, staring off into the woods.

Johanna frowned a little, "I'm sure she's fine," She said, Daryl stiffening up some, "It's Rose after all, she's a strong person, she's a badass really… if anything she's already found a way out and is working on getting back to us." She says giving a small laugh, and Daryl just nods.

He wished so much that were true.

"Daryl," Johanna called out to her again, getting him to look at her as the others started filing out of the prison "Rose is fine, and I want you to be careful." She said, "She wouldn't want you to worry so much you get yourself hurt, because if you'd did she'd kick your ass."

Daryl nods, smiling just a bit, "Hold down the fort while we're gone." He says finally, glancing over at Carol as she came out with the baby, glad that he was able to find her, "Don't let anyone else die."

Johanna nods, Logan coming up behind her, smiling at Daryl, "Go kick some ass."

҉

Rose swallowed down the bile rising in her throat as she stood in the corner in the room, hearing Maggie in the one next to her, hearing what the man in there was doing… she couldn't believe it, it was like when back when she was just on her own with Jamie, and they ran into the group of men who tried to get her to pay back her gratitude with her body, but this man… this man was toying with Maggie.

The door opened up, and Rose eye's widened, "Ry-Ryder?" She cried out going to him, but a man held a gun up stopping her, Merle moving in past her.

"Sorry about this baby girl," Merle said holding his hands up as the man lowered his gun, and went to work chaining Ryder to a short hook bolted to the ground in the corner, "Governor's order's to bring this man in here."

"You fucking liar!" Rose growled out, crossing the room to him, Merle holding his knifed hand out, stopping her, "You said you didn't see her! You said you hadn't seen my little girl! This is her father!" She shouted knocking Merle's hand out of the way, getting in his face and he just laughed.

"I'm under orders not to say a word," He said, pulling his hand back so the knife was level with her eye, "I suggest you stay calm darlin' don't do nothin' to drastic, just answer his questions and you'll be fine." He explained, glancing over at the black man, "Everything alright on your end?" He asked, the man pulling on Ryder's chains, making sure they were sturdy.

"No way the bastard's getting out of these." He said and Merle nods looking back over at Rose.

"Gotta go now darlin', you go and sit your ass back in that chair, the Governor wants a word with you two." He said, pointing over to the chair.

Rose swallowed, looking over at Ryder, his beaten appearance only causing more rage to build up before she decided to play this their way.

She turned her back to Merle, and hobbled her way back over to her seat, giving him one last look before he and the black man disappeared out the door, bolting it shut.

"I..I thought you were dead." Rose turned to look at Ryder as he slumped to the ground, his head falling back against the wall, "I thought you were killed."

Rose stands back up, and crosses the room, kneeling down beside him, "Ryder, what are you doing here?" She asks, her hands going to his face, getting him to look back at her, and he swallowed.

"We… They tricked us," He explained shaking his head, "They tricked us into thinking we were safe, they took her Rosie, they have Jamie."

Rose nods slowly, biting her lip, "its okay… Ry it's okay," She says, giving him a weak smile as she ran her thumb along his cheek, "We're going to get her back, I promise you."

The door opened, and Rose stood up quickly, backing away as a man came in, wearing a grey button up tucked into his blue jeans, and a gun holster around his waist, "You're Rose Marks I presume?" He asks, his voice, the same voice that had been in Maggie's and she backed up more.

"Waters," She says glancing down at Ryder, "You're the Governor I presume?" She mocks, and the man laughs a little smiling.

"Take a seat Ms. Waters, we've got a few things to talk about."

Rose shook her head, "Won't you just ask me to stand anyways?" She asks, taking a step closer to him, determined to get one of those guns from him, "Ask me to strip for you?" She teases, her eyes narrowed, and he tilts his head down, meeting her eyes feeling her hand moving towards him.

"You're playing a dangerous game Rose." He said, snatching her wrist before she could get to the gun, and she went to punch him with her right hand, only getting it grabbed in the process.

"DON'T YOU TOUCH HER!" Ryder shouted, pulling at his chains as the Governor pushed her forward, her back hitting the table, and kept going until the table hit the wall, her going on top of it.

"I'm not wanting to play games Rose," The Governor said, his grip on her wrists tightening, making her wince, "You're going to tell me where you five came from, or else."

Rose barked out a laugh, "You think this is going to get me to tell you? You fucking psycho." She yelled, moving so she was closer to his face, "I know men like you, all you want his power, you don't want to save anyone here, all you want to do is rule them!" She shouted in his face, squirming in his hold, "You're fucking pathetic you know that? You get off on causing people pain, because you can't feel anything at all, you're to far gone." She tried to kick, but he just laughed, using his body to spread her legs.

"Rose," He sighed, shaking his head, "All I want to know is where your people are." He said, "You tell me where they are, then I'll let you, and your people go." He said letting go of her hands, pulling his gun out and pointed at her.

"You shoot me you'll never find out." She said, her hands going to the edge of the table as he backed off.

Ryder pulled at his chains again, watching as the Governor pulled a pair of handcuffs from his holster, "Stand up, turn around." He demanded.

"Stay away from her," Ryder shouted shaking his head as Rose did as told standing up slowly.

"Ryder don't you say a fucking word, you understand me?" Rose shouted as she turned, her heart pounding in her chest.

"You really should learn your place Rose," The Governor said as he holstered his gun, going over and quickly handcuffed her, "You're going to tell me where you've been staying, one way or another." He said turning her around to face him.

"I'm not going to say a word," Rose said, and the Governor sighed, pulling his gun out again.

"I try to be reasonable with you people," He murmured, placing the gun to her cheek, "Your group is dangerous, what you did to Merle…" She rolled her eyes.

"Merle's a racist asshole from what I've heard, you want people like that around than be my guest," She said, turning her head, trying to get him to pull the gun back, "We're good people… we're a family, while you're group is a dictatorship." She snapped, and the governor laughed, turning to look at Ryder, as he undid his holster, letting it fall.

"Mr. Marks, you told me that your wife died." He said his hand going to Rose's hair, and yanked her towards him, "But this women obviously doesn't belong to you anymore," He said throwing Rose against the wall, Ryder shouting at him as he pulled at his chains.

"Get away from her you fucker! Leave her alone!"

Rose didn't know what to do, her hands were secured, her leg was fucked up, and she had no way of defending herself when she felt the Governor's hands on her waist, pressing against her hard, his face going to the nape of her neck, his breath tickling her skin, "Where's your camp?" He murmured his hands trailing down her sides, pulling at her skirt, making her stomach churn, her heart pound, and her head ache.

"Fuck you," She growled out, trying to break from his hold, but he pushed her against the wall again, making her hit her head this time.

"Ryder, where's your camp?" The Governor asked, turning to look at him as he gripped Rose by the back of her hair, Ryder swallowing as he watched the man trail his fingers along the length of her neck, whispering something to her that made her let out a small tearless sob.

"Fuck you," Ryder said through gritted teeth, Rose meeting his eyes for a moment, a sad smile on her lips before the Governor yanked her away from the wall and dragged her over the table, slamming her head down against it, and pressing her back down when she tried to get up.

Ryder's eyes widened when he heard the clanging of the man's belt being undone, and he shook his head, "NO! NO YOU STAY AWAY FROM HER!" He screamed, pulling a this chains, hearing Rose let out a small scream, and the governor mutter something, the sound of fabric being ripped, "No! No! Don't you touch her! Don't!" Ryder screamed, and groaned, as he pulled with all his might, his wrists beginning to bleed, trying to get from his restraints, hearing Rose's sobs now, the sound of flesh meeting flesh over and over again, Ryder doing all he could to try and get free.

The door busted open, the Governor pulled back suddenly, Rose sinking to the floor brokenly, sobbing as Merle looked at the scene his eyes wide, "They're obviously not going to talk." He said now as he looked at the Governor, who was zipping his pants back up, nodding.

"Shoot him," The Governor said pointing to Ryder, "Shoot him in the heart though, not the head, then unchain him."

Merle shook his head, "I… I can't do that boss." He said, the Governor faltering a bit as he picked up his holster, turning to look at Merle. "I, I can't let that girl die… You see, that's my brother's girl." Merle tried to explain and the Governor shook his head.

"That's my girl now," He said pointing down at Rose, "And if I want her to die, then she dies." He said moving closer to Merle, "Shoot the man."

Rose sobbed shaking her head, "No, no please don't, just leave, just fucking leave!" She screamed, the men all turning to look at her, Ryder trembling with rage as he continued to pull at his chains.

The Governor smiled just a bit as he leaned down, taking her face in his hand, pulling her closer, "If I let you live… will you let me keep Jamie?" He asks, Rose's eyes widening just a bit as he laughs and pushes her back to the ground, standing up, "That's right, she's been staying with me, she's such a smart girl, doesn't trust me at all, but… there's no way I'm letting her go with the likes of you," He said, fixing his shirt, and pulled the gun from his holster, pointing at Ryder, "Not unless you tell me where you're camp is."

Rose glared, "Go to hell."

The room fell silent as Rose and the Governor stared at each other, the smug look on his face just making her more upset as she tried to remain strong, though at the moment felt nothing but weak and disgusting. When the gunshot rung out throughout the room she screamed, hearing Maggie screaming in the room next to her, and the governor laugh as he holstered his gun again, leaving Merle to handle the mess he made.

҉

Daryl took in a shaky breath as he gazed at the gate, seeing the men walking a top of the barricade, armed to the teeth. Rosie was in there, Rosie, Glenn, Maggie and Jamie. They were all in there having God knows what done to them. He couldn't help but worry, but to expect the worse, that was just who he was… but no matter what he was going to get into that town, and he was going to get Rose back.

He didn't know what he would do if he was to late.. if Rose was gone, she was all he had, the only girl he ever felt like he truly loved, because getting close to be wasn't what he did… he felt a hand on his shoulder, and he glanced back to see Rick.

"They'll be fine," He whispered, Daryl nodding slowly, they had to be fine… they had to be.


	24. Left Behind

** _I cut this one a little short so I could have it up sooner rather than later, next chapter should be up in maybe a week, or even less! Thank all so much for reading!_

"Rose," Maggie sobbed out leaning her head against the metal wall as Glenn held her hands in his, "Rosie, Rose, can you hear me? Rose? Please tell me you're alright..." She cried, shaking her head as she waited for Rose to answer.

It had been a little over two hours since Maggie heard what had been happening to Rose, and then she heard the gunshot… After Rose's crying died down and the building fell silent the Governor dragged her out of her cell, and got her to tell him about the prison… Everything Rose had gone through, everything she took just to keep the group safe was in vain now, because Maggie couldn't stand the thought of loosing Glenn.

"Rosie," Glenn spoke now, knocking on the wall, "Come on Rose please...please just tell us you're okay." He said, leaning his head back against the wall.

"I… I'm okay," Rose voice was weak, but they both turned to the wall, sighing in relief, "I'm fine guys." She said, placing her hand on the wall… "How are you guys?"

Maggie let out a small sob, "Rosie I'm so sorry… they, he.. he knows about the prison." She cried, Glenn holding her closer now, rubbing her back, "He had a gun to Glenn, I-I panicked."

Rose sighs, shushing her through the wall as she leant her throbbing head against the cool metal, "It's alright Maggie." She muttered, "It's alright, just… we just need to figure out a plan to get out of here."

"The gunshot," Glenn spoke up now, biting his lip, "Are you hurt?"

Rose sucked in a breath, "I… No, I'm not hurt."

"Ryder?" Maggie asked, the air falling silent, and she sighed, "God Rosie…"

"I ain't dead yet," Ryder coughed, the couple smiling just a bit, "Soon though… the bastard left me in here to turn." He said, glancing over at Rose, who sat beside him, covered in his blood, "You two have to get Rosie out of here." He said, "You've got to go find Jamie."

Rose turned her attention back to Ryder, blocking out the two in the next room as they spoke softly, "You're not going to die." She mutters, wiping her hands onto her legs, her hands trembling still, "Don't be a pussy."

Ryder let out a laugh, "Those are exactly the words I needed to hear on my deathbed." He joked, before he started coughing again.

"We just need to keep pressure on it," Rose said, putting her hands over top of his, both of them trying their best to keep pressure on his leg, but his blood was still spilling out all over the floor.

"It hit an artery right?" He asks, looking over at her, biting his lip, "That means I'm just gonna keep bleeding out till I die Rosie, doesn't it? You went to bed school after all, that's what it means right?"

Rose shook her head, her hair creating a curtain around her face, "N-No, well yes… b-but if we just keep pressure on it, I few just keep it fro-,"

"Rose Marie Waters stop sputtering," Ryder sighed out leaning his head against the wall, "I'm dyin' ain't nothing you can do about it but get away from me before I turn into one of those things."

Rose shook her head, "No.. No if we just keep pressure on it then you'll be okay."

"Rose, I've already painted the entire floor a nice shade of red, there ain't no okay." He said looking back over at her when she winced because of his words, "Rosie… You need to get out of here," He said snapping his fingers, getting her attention, "You need to find Jamie, and you need to kill that motherfucker."

Rose bit her lip, letting out a shaky breath, "What am I supposed to tell Jamie?"

Ryder smiled, "Tell her, her daddy died a hero's death."

"You got shot in the leg well chained to the floor" She laughs a bit as she remembered her conversation with Jamie, "Like a dog."

Ryder chuckled shaking his head, "Like a dog."

Rose tried to laugh with him, but her laughs turned into sobs, and Ryder shushed her when she laid her head against his uninjured leg, her hands clutching the fabric of his jeans, "Shush now, it's all gonna be alright Rosie, it's alright." He murmured, running his hand through her hair, shaking his head, "I'm the one that should be cryin', not you."

Rose shook her head, "Jamie's just got you back." She whispered against his jeans, "She just got you and now she's got to lose you."

Ryder nods, "I know baby…but she'll be okay, she's got you… she's got that group and…. She has Daryl." He said shrugging some, "She'll be just fine, you just gotta make sure our girl doesn't lose her momma too."

Rose nods slowly, sitting back up, "You're a good man Ryder… sometimes." She mutters, her trembling hand going to his cheek, "I forgive you.. for everything." She mutters, and Ryder smiles.

"Those are better last words," He murmurs placing his hand over top of hers, "I'm getting sort of sleepy." He whispers, Rose shaking her head.

"No, you can't go to sleep, not here, you gotta stay up just a bit longer Ryder," She said moving her hand from his cheek to his neck, checking his pulse, her heart dropping when she found how slow it was, "Ryder, you've gotta stay awake." She said, slapping him on the cheek, him groaning, his head rolling to the side, "Come on Ryder, you've got to stay awake, for Jamie's sake… just stay awake."

"Mm sorry Rosie," He whispers, giving a sort of laugh, "Wish I could of at least had a taste of that king cake you used to bake."

Rose smiles just a little, "You stay awake for me and I'll be sure to make it for you… my momma's very own recipe, I know it by heart, you stay alive and you can have all of the king cake you want." She said, moving to put more pressure on his leg again, "You've just gotta keep your eyes open." She said nodding, "Just stay awake."

Rose turned back to look at him when he didn't say anything, "Ryder?" She called out his name, "Ryder?" She shook her head, her hands going to his face, "Ryder Marks don't do this!" She cried, her fingers going to his neck, "Please don't die Ry… Please." She sobbed when she wasn't met with no pulse, falling back away from his body now.

He was going to turn into one of those things, and here she was, broken and useless with no way to protect herself. Her baby's father just bleed to death, chained up like a dog, and she couldn't do anything to save him… she couldn't stop the Governor from… from.. she let out a sob as she remembered, scooting further away from the body until her back met the wall, and she was under the table, pulling her knees up to her chest, her hands going over her ears when she heard Maggie and Glenn calling out for her.

҉

Jamie was tip toeing around in the building she was living in with Mr. Governor, he was gone still, Karen wasn't around and neither was Andrea. So this was her chance to finally be able to see what the man was hiding, if he was hiding anything… but she was sure he was, and if he wasn't well, she could get away with it when he found out, he seemed to like her. She snuck out of her room, and crossed the hall to where the Governor lived, turning the door knob slowly as she peeked in, spotting no one.

She remembered the locked door in that room, one she tried to sneak into before but wasn't able to because Andrea came in… but now was her chance, she sort of remembered what Daryl told her about picking locks, and her mom even taught her how to with a bobby pen before too. She reached into her hair, and pulled her bobby pen out, her bangs falling in her face as she quickly scurried across the room, and to the door. She bit her tongue, wiggling the pen around in the hole of the door knob, turning it a bit, trying to remember how to do it… but she had only seen her mom do it, and known what she and Mr. Daryl told her… she had no practice.

"What are you doing," Jamie screamed when she heard the voice, and she jumped quickly turning and dropped the bobby pen, coming face to face with the Governor, her eyes going wide.

"I-I," She had no idea how she was going to cover up what she was doing, and she swallowed when he came over to her, pulling a necklace from around his neck.

"You want to see what's in there?" He asked, raising an eyebrow, Jamie nodding slowly as she scooted away from the door, and the Governor smiled, "This is my daughter's room, my Penny."

Jamie's eyebrows creased together, "P-Penny?" She asks as he nods, and unlocks the door pushing it open.

"Go ahead, go on in." He said gesturing for her to enter, "I'm sure she'd love someone to play with."

Jamie peeked into the dark room, the only source of light coming from some sort of… fish tank she thought, "Is she sleeping?" Jamie asked, and the governor shook his head, pushing her into the room.

"She's just shy."

Jamie looked up at him as he shut the door behind him, and flipped the light switch, which caused her to scream when she saw what she thought was a fish tank.

"No! No please I'm sorry, don't make me stay in here!" She cried out as she tried to run for the door, by the Governor just snatched her up by the arm, and forced her to sit in her chair, her eyes still on the floating heads in the tanks, that were still moving… walker heads.

"You're just like your mother," He said shaking his head, pointing at her when she tried to get up again, "Always making things hard." He said and Jamie looked up at him.

"My mom? How do you know my mom?" She asks and he shrugs.

"She's here," He said kneeling down in front of her as he smiles, "And if you be a good girl you'll get to see her again." He said, brushing her hair from her face, making her let out a whimper, "Penny hasn't had a friend in a while." He said, turning back to the caged area, where Jamie could sort of see the shadow of someone else in the room. "She won't hurt you though, she can't hurt you."

Jamie watched as he opened the door, and took a step back, a little girl with a bag on her head running towards her, making her scream, pushing herself back into the chair, "What did you do to her?" She cried, watching as the Governor pulled the bag from the girl's head, showing Jamie that the little girl, who had to been her age, maybe a little bit older was a walker.

"She got bit," He said sadly, petting the walker's hair lovingly, like her mother always did to her, "Her and my wife both." He said, turning to look at Jamie, "I want you to learn a lesson Jamie." He said as he placed the bag back over the little girl's head, and went to Jamie who shook her head.

"No, no, no please no, no, leave me alone!" She cried, trying to pull from his hold as he grabbed her arm tightly, pulling her up off the chair, "Please I'm sorry! I promise I'll be good! I'll be good!" She cries out, and he shushes her, pulling her to his chest, hugging her close.

"It's okay honey, it's okay, you're going to be fine." He whispered before dragging her over to the cage, and threw her in with Penny, locking the door.

"NO! NO PLEASE LET ME OUT! LET ME OUT!" She cried going to the bars, screaming when the little walker got near her, snarling and biting at her from under the hood, and she ran to the other side of the little cage, pushing herself up against the wall, sobbing.

"I'll be back in a few hours honey, you just sit in there and think about what you did." The governor called out, his footsteps heading away from the cage.

"NO! Please don't leave me! Please! Please! I'll be good! I'll be good!" She screamed, putting her hands over her face, trying to hide from Penny, "LET ME OUT! PLEASE LET ME OUT!" She cried, hearing gunshots off in the distance, crying out for her mother, her father, for Daryl.

҉

Sometime during her time under the table Merle had come in and retrieved Ryder's dead body, which had yet to become a walker, but said nothing to her, hell, he didn't even look at her… but of course she didn't look at him either, she just kept herself under that table, even when she heard the gunfire from outside, Maggie and Glenn's shouts… her rescue team she was sure, but their plans failed, and she was still stuck in that cell, under the table, wondering why Merle and his men weren't dragging her out to be executed with her friends.

"Rosie!" Rose heard someone calling her name, and she glanced at the door, noticing the smoke filling the room, "Rose!"

"We've got to move, I hear more comin'."

"I AIN'T LEAVIN' HER HERE!"

"WE HAVE TO MOVE!"

Gunshots were fired, and there was shouting, everyone was shouting. Rose closed her eyes, leaning her head against her hands, listening to the chaos unfold outside the door before the gunshots grew distant, then stopped all together, creating an eerie silence all throughout the room.

So they didn't get her… she expected as much, with the way the events had turned she would most likely not be saved, she'd be stuck here with the Governor until… until Daryl found a way to save her.

The room to the door creaked open, and Rose looked up, seeing Merle hurrying in, "Come on now pretty girl." He said snapping his fingers at her, "We gotta get goin' if we're gonna catch up to my brother, gotta get you away from the Governor."

Rose stared up at him a moment, before crawling out from under the table, her eyes going to the huge pool of blood, and she let out a whimper, Merle shaking his head.

"Don't do that now Rose, we ain't got time for that, we gotta get outta here." He said, and nodded towards the door, "Now come on, let's go before someone comes." He said heading back over to the door, and peered out of it, "Come on now, coasts clear." He said, Rose nodding as she followed him out of the door.

Rose swallowed as she followed after Merle, who manuverred them throught he building and out into the streets unseen, "J-Jamie." She said suddenly to Merle, "We have to get her, WE HAVE TO!" She all but shouted when he started to shake his head, and he cursed, grabbing her by the wrist and dragged her into a alley, some of the townsfolk running by, armed heavily.

"Look, I get it, it's your girl, but we gotta get you to safety first." He said, snapping his fingers when Rose started to cry, "Stop that now you here, your tears ain't helping anybody, now get your head out of your ass and focus you hear." He demands, Rose nodding slowly, "The Governor ain't gonna hurt her," He explains, glancing out into the street again, "But you? You he will hurt, now let's go."

Rose let out a shaky breath before following after Merle, "We're gonna get outta here Rose." Merle said from in front of her, "We'll be fine."

҉

Jamie sobbed quietly in her corner, Penny the walker right next to her. She learned quickly that since she was being quiet, Penny didn't bother her, so she forced herself to stop crying as much as she could, and Penny went off, and continued to pace around in the cage. She could hear the shouts of people outside, the gunfire, all of it, and she hoped that those were for her, maybe Daryl coming to save her, her mommy alive and coming to save her.

Jamie raised her head when the door was kicked open, and she wiped her eyes, watching as Penny quickly made her way over to the cage door, groaning as the person walked into the room, Jamie staying quiet, while Penny pushed against the cage door.

Jamie swallowed when the door opened, and woman said 'It's okay', Penny walking out.

"D-Don't," Jamie finally found her voice when the woman went to take Penny off her chain, "She's a monster… she'll eat you." She said, quickly, Penny now turning at the sound of her voice and made her way over to her, causing her to cry out suddenly.

"Jamie?" She recognized the voice when he called her name, and Jamie ran out as fast as she could, away from Penny and into Michonne's arms, and started to sob.

"Shush girl, it's alright, everything's alright." Michonne whispered as she stroked her hair pulling back some, "Are you bit honey?"

Jamie shook her head, pulling away some as she wiped her eyes, "My momma, is she okay? The Governor… he he said he had her." She said and Michonne frowns

"We'll find her Jamie, but you gotta go." She said, and Jamie cries, shaking her head, "Daryl's out there honey, he's looking for her, for you." Michonne whispers, stroking her hear, glancing back at the girl, "We've got to take care of her." Michonne said, "You go stand over there." She said pointing to the corner away from the tanks, and Jamie nods, doing as told.

Jamie closes her eyes, not wanting to watch as Michonne killed the little walker, and then the Governor's shouts made her jump, not moving from her spot when she opened her eyes, seeing Michonne staring at him, her blade ready to kill the walker.

"Don't hurt her," Jamie swallowed as she heard him speak, and she looked around the room, spotting a little knife on the table near the tanks, "It's me you want huh?" Jamie glanced at Michonne, who was still staring at the Governor, keeping his attention as Jamie gripped the knife, and hurried back to her corner, clutching it to her chest. "There's no need for her to suffer."

"She doesn't have needs," Michonne said, and Jamie squeezed her eyes shut, trying her best to stay strong and not start to cry.

"Don't hurt my little girl," Jamie opened her eyes, seeing the tip of the Governor's fingers through the doorway, "Please don't." Jamie couldn't help but let out a small yelp when Michonne drove the sword through the little girls skull, and it came out her mouth, the Governor screaming and running towards her, Jamie leaping from her corner and stabbed him in his hip, making him scream out, and knock her to the side, before charing towards Michonne.

"RUN JAMIE!" Michonne screamed, groaning when the governor hit her in the face, Jamie's eyes wide as she picked herself up from the ground not wanting to leave her friend, "JAMIE GO! GO!" She shouted, and Jamie swallows back her tears and nods, quickly running from the room. She ran down the hall, down the stairs, and out the door where she was faced with the smoke in the air, and the sound of gun fire, spotting Mr. Rick.

"RICK!" She screamed out to him, stealing his attention away from the body he'd been looking at, and spotted her, and ran towards her, shouting at her to get down, and she did, ducking behind a trashcan the shots continued to be fired away, Rick scooping her up in his arms, and ran towards Maggie, who took Jamie from Rick, and helped her up and over the buses.

"We gotta get my daddy! My momma!" Jamie said suddenly, as Maggie took her hand once they were on the ground, running towards the trees. Maggie shook her head, picking Jamie up in her arms. "We have to go back! My daddy's still there, and my momma! We have to!" Jamie cried out, wrapping her arms around Maggie's neck as Rick urged them forward, Maggie shush Jamie as she continued to cry, until they finally met up with the others. Maggie set Jamie down, and the little girl stood there crying before Glenn urged her over, and she ran to him, letting him pull her close, as she cried.

"What happened to your face?" She asked pulling back to look at him, Glen sighing as Rick came over.

"Where's Daryl?" Rick asked, looking at Glenn who shook his head.

"He's not back yet," He whispered, stroking Jamie's hair, Rick cursing and everyone turning at the sound of noise coming from the bushes, Michonne coming up to them, and Rick pointed a gun to her, Maggie turning to do the same.

"Where in the hell were you?" He demanded, Jamie raising her head.

"She saved me," Jamie whispered, making them look back at her, "Mr. Governor… he he locked me up in a cage with a walker." She said, shaking her head, "It was so dark… and Michonne saved me."

Rick nods, looking back at Michonne as she sighed, leaning against the old train cart, "Where's Daryl?" She asks, and Rick shakes his head.

"He's missing," Maggie said, lowering her gun, "Oscar got taken down."

Michonne nods, "We gotta find them," She said looking over at Jamie, who buried her face in Glenn's shirt, "This girl can't lose her entire family in one day."


	25. You Found Me

**_Here's the new chapter guys, I hope you all like it! Next chapter should be up soon, though I said that last time… Thanks for bearing with me, I love you all! xoxo_

Rose wasn't sure how it all had gone down, everything had been a blur, and she barely was able to fight back when the Governor had grabbed her, his hands on her skin making her feel sick to the stomach, and she feared for her life, for her dignity all over again. But he didn't do anything to her this time, just knocked her to her knees, and zip tied her hands together. She noticed Merle, looking scared as well as one of the Governor's men pointed the gun to his head, not moving as the Governor placed a hood over Rose's head, and forced her back up to her feet.

"You think you can just leave?" The Governor's voice was in her ear, making her cringe as he pulled her close, "I've taken a liking to you Rose, you're mine now, and there isn't anyone else left to save you, they're all dead.." He said, his hand tightening around her arm, and she could feel bruises forming, and she let out a small sob.

She tripped over her own feet as the Governor dragged her someplace, she could hear the chattering of a large crowd of people, and she could feel the heat of a fire nearby, maybe torches. She was forced down to her knees once again, only hearing the people around her talk, all talking about the attack, how they were scared, and Rose wondered how all these people managed to trust the Governor, but she was sure it was more fear than trust. Fear of what waited for them outside those walls, and even fear of turning against the Governor.

She felt the Governor's hand leave her head, and she fell forward just a bit as he walked away, the crowd growing silent, "What can I say?" He fell silent, and Rose swallowed down the lump in her throat, keeping her tears at bay, moving her hands as much as she could, trying to break those ties around her wrists, "Hasn't been a night like this since the walls were completed, and I thought we were past it. Past the days when we all sat scared, huddled in front of the TV, during the early days of the outbreak. The fear we all felt then, we felt it again tonight."

Rose remembered those days, the days she'd spent with her momma and daddy, watching the horrific news on the television, how she had to keep Jamie from the room so she wouldn't be exposed to the graphic videos people filmed of what then they thought were just crazy people attacking innocents, but turned out to be dead bodies reanimated, hungry for flesh, and desperate to have it.

"I failed you, I promised to keep you safe. Hell look at me…You know I, I should tell you that will be okay, that we're safe, that tomorrow will bury our dead and endure but I won't, cause I cant. Because I'm afraid. That's right, I'm afraid of terrorists that want what we have. Want to destroy us. Worse, because one of those terrorists is one of our own." Rose wanted to curse when the crowd all gasped, taking in every word that man said, believing it, "Merle, the man I counted on, the man I trusted, he led them here! He led them in, and he tried to help one escape!" The Governor's voice was closer, and Rose let out a yelp when she felt his hand grab her by the collar of her shirt pulling her up, "You lied! Betrayed us all to save this girl!" He shouted, and Rose heard more people coming, the sound of someone struggling, the Governor's hold on her tightening even more, before she was thrown towards Merle, who caught her so she wouldn't fall. "And this, this is another one of the terrorists." The governor said, Rose turning in Merle's arms, "Merle's own brother!" Rose screamed out a no, Merle unable to hold her any longer as she fell to her knees, and she felt someone grab at the hood on her head, and pulled it off, Rose falling back, seeing Daryl in the first time in what felt like forever, looking panicked when he saw her.

"No, no Rosie." He whispered, trying to walk over to her but a man grabbed him by his shirt, and jerked him back, Daryl glaring at man as he looked back at Rose. He had to leave her before, and he had come back, despite Rick's orders he had come back to try and find her, and he was caught… Now they were both going to die.

"What should we do with them huh?" The governor asked looking down at Rose as the crowd began to shout 'kill them', "What?" The crowd responded to him, shouting louder now, and Rose closed her eyes shaking her head as she looked around, seeing elderly, children, parents, everyone in the crowd seemed to be wanting to watch them die, until she met a familiar pair of blue eyes, and she shook her head.

"Andrea?" She barely managed to get the girl's name out before she was picked up by her hair, forced to stand on her feet, trying to step towards Daryl, but held back by the Governor.

Rose looked back towards Andrea, who was fighting with somebody, trying to get the man to let her go before she managed to break free, only to be held back by another man, "Phillip!" She shouted towards the Governor, and Rose swallowed as she watched Andrea, who looked from the man, to Daryl, and to Rose, "She's my friend, they're my friends."

Rose frowned closing her eyes as the Governor's hold on her tightened, "It's not up to me anymore, the people have spoken."

Rose was pushed forward by the Governor, and she stumbled until she was in front of Daryl, her eyes welling up with tears as he whispered her name, and she shook her head, moving to stand beside him, looking over at Merle as the Governor began to speak to him, "I asked you where your loyalties lied." He said, someone coming up behind Rose and untied her hands, before Daryl quickly took her left hand in his right, the two of them looking at each other, "And you said here." Rose rested her head against his shoulder, and wrapped her other arm around his chest, letting him hold her close and she closed her eyes letting a few tears slip out, kissing his skin, "Well prove it, prove it to us all." He said, looking over at Rose now, who had her face buried against Daryl's shoulder, "Brother against brother." The crowd cheered, "Winner goes free."

Rose pulled back suddenly, "No! No! Please!" She screamed at him, feeling someone's arms wrapping around her chest, and pulled her away from Daryl, who fought to grab a hold of her, getting a gun pulled on him, "Don't do this!" Her voice was echoing Andrea's, and she kicked her feet, trying to get whoever was holding her to let go, Daryl stopping his movement to get her back, death staring the man who had his gun pointed at him.

"Fight to the death!"

The crowd erupted into cheers, arms were thrown in the air, whistles were heard, things were thrown, and Rose screamed, "No, stop this! Stop! Please don't do this! Please!" She couldn't believe this was happening, that this man could be so heartless, so evil.

Rose watched carefully as Merle looked around, the look on his face unreadable before he raised a hand in the air, "Ya'll know me!" He shouted, the crowd cheering a reply, "I'm gonna do, whatever I got to do to prove," Rose screamed when Merle punched Daryl in the stomach, making him fall to the ground, "That my loyalty," Rose screamed out, 'Fight back! Please Daryl' as Merle kicked him in the face, making him turn over, "To this town."

"No! Merle! Stop! Stop! Please! Don't hurt him!" Rose sobbed, clawed and screamed as she fought with the man holding her, and managed to use all her weight to throw him over her shoulder, and she ran to the circle, and hit Merle as hard as she could over the head, stopping him from beating Daryl, the two of them hearing the moans of walkers now. Merle threw a punch, hitting Rose in her cheek, and knocked her back towards one of the walkers that were being brought over, Daryl standing up now, and went to her aid as the walker grabbed her.

Rose could hear Merle and Daryl fighting behind her as she fought with the walker a man was holding, it's nails ripping at the fabric of her flannel, its grip on her tight, and she couldn't pry his rotting fingers off.

"No, no, no." She sobbed, fighting to get away, but she couldn't break free, she was so weak, so useless. She let out a sob when she felt something grab her around her waist, and pull her away, her tears stopping when a familiar pair of hands graced her face, and she looked up through wet lashes, seeing Daryl.

"Rose, Rose you gotta fight, you've got to fight." Daryl's voice was in her ear, and she finally took in her surroundings, seeing now that Merle was helping them still, the three of them back to back as the men holding the walkers got closer, and she let out a cry as she pushed the walker away from her, making the man holding it stumble, Daryl punching another in the face, Merle doing the same before a gun shot was fired, and the walker's, blood splattered across Rose's face, her eyes wide as the crowd began to scream.

Daryl grabbed her hand, both of them ducking down as guns went off, smoke from a smoke bomb filling the air, "Merle, come on." Daryl called out to his brother, his hand on Rose's tightening as he dragged her through the smoke, and Rose did her best to will her legs to keep moving.

Rose saw a light shining through the smoke, and she squinted her eyes as Daryl let go of her hand, managing to get his crossbow back before yelling at her to keep moving, and she followed after them. She spotted Rick, and he smiled at her, glad to see her face, and happy that she looked alright, for the most part.

Daryl's hand found hers again, making her move faster, calling out to her but she didn't answer. She couldn't speak right now, there was no way… She was safe, she was with Daryl, but she couldn't stop thinking about it. About what the Governor had done, what he had done to her, to Ryder, what that man had put her family through… and she was going have to tell Jamie everything, and she'd have to watch her little girl's heart break all over again.

҉

Johanna stood beside Logan, passing him the medical supplies he needed as he wrapped up Allen's leg, Hershel at his side watching over him, "You can take those stitches out yourself in a week or so." He said, Logan nodding as he finished up the bandage, and leaned back giving the man a small smile.

"Ain't that painful either, just need a little booze and you'll be alright." He joked, trying to liven up the spirits in the group that Carl had brought back, though it seemed the only ones alright with the being there were Tyrese and his sister.

"Thank you," Allen said, nodding as Logan patted his leg before standing up, looking over at Johanna as she smiled at him.

"Pretty nice having medical training," Tyrese said Logan nodding as he looked over at Hershel.

"Only gets you so far, I was only just a veterinarian, Logan here's the one with the real training." Hershel added in, Tyrese looking over at Logan as he gave a little shrug.

"I was well on my way to be a doctor before the world went to shit," He sighed scratching the back of his neck, "Rose though, Rose was the real deal… She'd probably be on my case about the way I snitched your leg up." Logan laughed sadly, Johanna taking his hand in hers.

"What happened to her?" Tyrese asked, and Hershel turned towards him, placing his hands on his knee as he sighed a little.

"Her girl went missin'," He started leaning back against the table as every started to listen to him speak, "Rose though, she's such a strong woman, even when we thought she'd lost herself she managed to come back, and she never give up hope." Hershel frowned, closing his eyes, "She was taken from us when she went out looking for her daughter, my daughter was taken too."

"The people that took them," Johanna said, "They're not good people, Logan and I have seen some of the things they do to survivors, they're cruel. But our leader is out looking for them, and hopefully they're alright still." She said, looking over at Hershel, and gave him a reassuring smile.

Tyrese frowns, "I hope they are as well, it's such a shame what the world's turned us into." He muttered shaking his head.

"The world didn't turn us into anything," Logan said, gaining the others attention, "Men like that… that prey on the weak, they were always cruel, whether you believe it or not… they just used this shit world to do as they wanted." Johanna sighs a little when she felt Logan getting worked up, and she ran her hand down his back, resting her head against his shoulder as he wrapped his arm around her waist, pressing his lips to her hair still wishing that he could have gone with the others, so he could help in some way to get them all back safely.

҉

Rose followed behind the group through the woods, Maggie, Rick, Merle, and Daryl all moved in front of her, Daryl glancing back at her now and again as she limped, and stumbled behind them, still not have said a word to him.

Rick had hugged her once they were safe, and he told her that they had gotten Jamie back, the news lifted her spirits, but she just couldn't shake the feeling she had, she couldn't make the pain go away.

"Glenn," Rick called out, and Rose looked up, noticing that they had reached the road now, and the survivors all slowed, Glenn hurrying over to them, thanking god, before freaking out over seeing Merle. Rose stood to the side, watching as they all began to fight amongst themselves, Merle being a jackass, and Michonne and Glenn ready to kill.

"EVERYONE SHUT THE FUCK UP," Rose shouted, speaking for the first time, and everyone looked over at her, frowning as they looked at the girl in blood soaked clothes, covered in cuts and bruises "This is not the fucking place to do this right now, just-," Rose didn't get a chance to finish when she heard a familiar voice, and she turned, her eyes welling up with tears.

"Mommy," Rose felt her heart drop seeing Jamie standing there, her eyes red and puffy, "Mommy." Rose sobbed as she ran forward, falling to her knees in front of her daughter who jumped into her arms, both of them crying now. "I thought you were gone, momma you were dead, you were dead."

Rose shook her head shushing her girl as she kissed her hair, and her head, holding her close as she fell back onto her bottom, feeling the relief wash over her to have her daughter in her arms again, safe and sound.

She heard footsteps creep up behind her, and Daryl kneeled down beside her, the fighting in the group completely stopped for now as he put his hand on Jamie's head, the girl looking up at him, and smiled.

"I knew you'd come for me," She whispered leaning into Daryl's touch as Rose continued to sob, "I knew you and momma would be alright." She said and Daryl couldn't help but smile, wrapping his arms around them both now, holding them tightly as the girls began to cry again.

Merle watched his brother carefully, who was kissing Rose, and hugging Jamie, looking so happy that it was making his own damn heart feel heavy, "Ain't that sweet, regular ol' Brady bunch here, girl's got my brother pus-," Daryl turned when he heard Merle's sentence cut off short by the blunt end of Rick's gun.

"Asshole,"

҉

With half of the group gone, Logan felt responsible at trying to restore order since the break in of walkers. Hershel had his eyes on the group they had recently brought in, Carol and Beth were taking care of the baby, and Carl did what he could to help out. So Logan thought that clearing the dead walkers out of cell block D from the other day would be the best thing could do, and maybe him doing this would help them be able to expand further into the prison.

Logan's original plan was to do it alone, but once Johanna found out about it she forced him to let her help, now the couple were moving dead bodies from the cell block, and piling them up in the field to be burned.

"Some of these smell really, really bad," Johanna coughed out as they slung another body onto the growing pile, Logan nodding in agreement as he placed his hands on his hips, breathing heavily as he titled his head back.

"God it's hot," He groaned, wiping at his brow with the back of his hand before gesturing with his head back towards the prison, "Come on, we're almost done."

They both wandered into the cell block that they'd originally found Johanna in – and she frowned. "I hope Jamie's okay." She muttered under her breath as she lingered by the entrance, not really wanting to go back in there – not really wanting to see the withered body of the child that was once her little sister.

Logan glanced back when she lingered before he realized where they were, and a heavy sigh left his lips as he moved forward. "Jamie's fine, she's tough." Logan told her, "I mean I haven't met a child with that much gut in a very long while." He laughed a little as he picked up one of the bodies. Johanna moved again, seeing that he needed help, and grabbed its feet as they both moved out again to sling it into the growing pile.

As if she'd just heard Logan's answer, she started, "Yeah, Lizzie was always the girly one." She said with a small smile as they walked back towards the cell block. Logan glanced down at her and frowned, shaking his head, "That's not-"

"It's okay, really." Johanna shrugged and took a deep breath as she squatted to pick up her lifeless, withered sister into her arms. "She's better off." Johanna muttered as she held her close, wincing at the memory of her kicking at her own sister's head till it was nothing but blood. Johanna swallowed thickly as she laid the small girl at the end of the pile, and then glanced back at Logan, "I wish we could bury her."

Logan pulled another body into the pile and sighed as he ran a hand through his face, not really knowing what to say except wrapping an arm around her shoulder and pulling her in to press a kiss to her temple. They both broke away and wandered back into the cell block, working again.

"Remember what your mother said, Jo." He started, grunting as he hauled up a body, "Everything will be okay in the end. If it's not-"

Johanna cut him off with a smile as she continued, "-okay then it's not the end." She finished as she helped him with the body. The smile fell of her face with a frown, "I know I said that I hoped she was right about this, but I really hope Rose & Jamie are okay." She told Logan, "We could use some 'okay' at this moment." Johanna muttered as she shook her head, "How long has it been, Logan? A year?" She asked, tilting her head towards him.

Logan nodded slowly and frowned – a year since the outbreak. Well, a year and a month. He kept track of the days. Time was not something else that he was planning on loosing, neither was Johanna. They'd survived through so much – there was going to be an end to this, right? A few months back, Logan would have believed it. But now, they weren't just up against the dead, the living too – and Logan was not so sure any more if it was all going to be okay in the end.

҉

Rose sat with Jamie by Merle who was still bitching about the others, moaning and groaning as he rubbed at his head, listening to Jamie as she explained how nice he had been to her, even if he was a jerk to the others. It was nice to know that Merle at least was willing to take care of her little girl in Woodbury, made her respect the man just bit, but only a tiny bit since he had let the Governor kill Ryder, and.. She closed her eyes, still not able to come to terms with what had happened to her in there.

"Momma," Rose turned back to Jamie, stroking her hair as she smiled a little.

"What is it sweetie?" She asked, wiping some of the dirt from Jamie's face with her thumb.

"He's dead isn't he," She said, glancing over at Merle who looked away from her, before back at her mother, "Daddy… Mr. Governor killed him didn't he?"

Rose nods slowly as she closes her eyes, "He loved you so much honey," She whispered as she took Jamie's hand in hers, looking back at her, "Your daddy… he died loving you, wanting nothing more to keep you safe, to make sure that I got back to you." She said, wiping away a tear that slipped from her daughter's eye, "He died a hero baby, and he loved you more than anything in this damn world."

Jamie nods slowly, wiping at her eyes, resting her head against her mother's lap, crying softly as Rose ran a hand through her hair, Jamie's whimpers ceasing as she dozes off.

Jamie was so used to death now, she was used to her friends dying, she was used to seeing people come back and kill others, and that alone made Rose feel broken… but knowing that one day, one day her daughter was going to be alone, that was what really got her, and she did her best not to cry.

"She's strong," Merle's voice coaxed Rose from her thoughts, and she turned to the man, "Your girl, she's a strange one, lot tougher than half the men back in that damn town, and she'll be alright." Rose gave him a small smile, biting her lip.

"You have a heart after all," She murmured, Merle chuckling.

"I ain't no tin man pretty girl, got a soft spot for babies, just like my damn brother, it's the Dixon curse." He joked, Rose nodding slowly as she let out a small sigh, her eyes closing.

"I don't want him to know Merle," She spoke softly, the man looking a little confused, "About me… about the Governor." She said seriously, "I don't want you to tell him if he asks."

Merle nods slowly, "Whatever you say angel, but he'll find out eventually." He said with a shrug, Rose ignoring his comment and thanking him quietly as she turned her attention back to Jamie, who was now fully asleep. They'd all been through so much in the past few weeks, Jamie had told her everything… How Andrea and the Governor were together, how he locked Jamie up with the walker that used to be his daughter… the man was sick.

Rose looked up when she heard the others calling after Daryl, and she saw him walking away, Rick following after him, saying something to him before they walked over to the car, where Daryl pulled his bag from the back, before walking over to them. Rose stood up, pulling Jamie into her arms, the girl resting her head on her mother's shoulder, her arms and legs wrapping around her body..

"What's going on?" She asked quietly, Daryl looking over at his brother for a moment, before returning his gaze to Rose.

"They don't want him in the prison," Daryl explained, Rose nodding slowly as Merle started to bitch again, "I… I can't leave him again Rosie." He whispered, taking her hand and lead her away from his brother.

Rose bit her lip, she expected as much, knowing what Merle had done to Glenn, what he let the Governor do to Maggie, there was no way they'd let him stay with them, but she at least thought they'd give him a change like they had Ryder, make him stay with the prisoners, or in the guard tower. Rose looked back at Daryl as he stroked Jamie's hair, the look on his face she knew well, and knew exactly what he was thinking, that they'd stay behind, that they'd leave him.

"What are you going to do?" She asked, taking a step closer to him.

"We'll just… just have to make do on our own," He said looking down some, "You and Jamie… you guys should stay, the prison's safe for you, and Jamie needs support."

Rose shook her head, "No." She could tell she surprised him, "No, our home is with you Daryl, we're safer with you, Jamie needs you."

Daryl knew that he should have put his foot down, and forced her to stay with Rick, with the others. But when he met her eyes, and saw her standing there, Jamie asleep in her arms, he couldn't bring himself to make her leave. He was already in to deep, and life without them wasn't one he could imagine, it wasn't one he wanted to imagine.

"You might want to let the others know," He said, and Rose nods, "They… They ain't going to be happy."

Rose smiles sadly as she nods, "Yeah well, they'll understand." She said, sighing when Daryl leaned his forehead against hers, "We'll make do," She murmured, "We'll all be fine."

҉

Daryl stood beside Merle, the two men keeping an eye on Rose and Jamie down by the creek, Rose trying to clean herself up a bit. Daryl still couldn't shake the feeling that something was the matter, something had happened to Rose, but she wasn't talking, hell since their talk when they left the group she hadn't said a word to him, yet again. It wasn't like her at all, Merle even made wise cracks at her, and she took them, didn't argue, or curse, or nothing. It was like… like she wasn't Rose anymore, and he knew something horrible must have happened in that town, something other than the death of Ryder.

"So how'd you wind up with a nice piece of ass like that? Bet she had you whipped in the first hour of meeting her." Merle leaned against the tree, Daryl looking over at him, rolling his eyes as his brother made a suggestive face at him.

"Man knock that shit out," He sighed shaking his head as he looked back over at Rose, watching as she pulled her shirt over her head, revealing a bunch of bruises on her sides, and he frowned, "What happened to her in there?" He asked turning back to Merle who shrugged.

"Dunno brother, wasn't allowed near her once the Governor found out she was your girl." Merle lied easily, Daryl nodding slowly, "You gotta at least tell me if you hit that yet."

Daryl groaned, sending his brother another look as the man laughed, "I said knock it off Merle, ain't none of your damn business."

Merle laughed loudly, his hands clapping together as he moved his arms up, his way of cheering "Awh man you did! You've gotten a taste of that, tell me how it was? I bet she dirty, I've heard that damn sailor mouth she's got on her."

"I swear to God if you don't shut up right now." Daryl barked out, Merle laughing more now as he continued to make perverted comments, Rose watching from the creek as Daryl began to fight with his brother, Jamie laughing.

"Mr. Merle's funny," Jamie said as she washed her mother's back carefully, trying to get the dirt and blood off of her, Rose nodding as she sat on her knees in the creek, rubbing her tank top together under the water, watching the blood soak out of it some, "He was always trying to make me laugh when I was by myself… Andrea played with me sometimes, and there was this nice lady Karen, but Merle was the funniest." Jamie giggled, and Rose smiled some, she had missed that noise so much.

Jamie, despite finding out the death of her father, didn't seem very upset, and Rose wondered if her daughter really hadn't let it sink in yet, or if the girl was doing her best to remain strong, like Rose had always taught her to. Jamie really was the only thing keeping her together right now, knowing that if she wanted Jamie to be okay, Rose had to stay okay…even if she wasn't.

"Momma," Rose let out a hum, turning some to look at Jamie as she stopped scrubbing her back, "Momma how'd you get so bruised up?" She asked, feeling her mother's muscles tighten some beneath her hand, and she frowned, "Did the Governor do this momma?" Rose closed her eyes, nodding just a bit as she looked away.

"Y-yeah baby, he did, but I'm alright." She muttered as she splashed some water on her face, letting out a sigh as she watched her reflection in the water for a moment before she stood up, "I think this is as clean as I'm going to get." She muttered, looking back at Jamie, her daughter smiling up at her a little, "Let's go change into those clothes we got."

Rose took Jamie's hand as they walked out of the creek, and to the bag on the edge that Daryl had packed for them just in case they needed clothes when he found them. It was nice, knowing that he, despite the odds, was so determined to find them that he brought some of their clothes, and since they had left the group at the prison it was good to have some of their stuff. Rose pulled an old Aerosmith tee shirt over her head that hung off one of her shoulders, her bra that was still wet soaking through the fabric some.

"Aren't you going to change your pants momma?" Jamie asked looking up at her as the little girl pulled a tattered blue dress over her head, and a pair of jeans on under it, "Your skirt's kind of ripped." Rose gave Jamie a smile as she nods.

"Y-yeah, I just don't want to change in front of them." She said gesturing towards Daryl and Merle, and Jamie nods, "You go up there, tell Daryl that I'll just be in the woods over there, getting dressed." She said pointing to where she was going as she picked up the bag, and Jamie nods before hurrying back over to Daryl.

"Where's she going?" Daryl asked, a little worried as Jamie stops in front of him.

"She's going to finish getting ready over there," Jamie said and waved her hand in the direction her mother headed in, "She doesn't want you and Merle to see her butt." She giggled, and Merle chuckled, Daryl nodding slowly as he watched as Rose walked away, her figure disappearing in the trees.

"Merle," Daryl turned to him, "Keep an eye on Jambo." He muttered, Merle nodding as Jamie sat down on a tree root, pouting as she watched Mr. Daryl walk away after her mother.

Rose sat her bag down once she felt she was far enough away from Merle and Daryl seeing her, and she closed her eyes, her hands going to her stomach as she lifted up her shirt, and looked down at her hips, frowning as she saw the bruises on her skin. She ran her fingers over the sore spots, wincing a little as she tried not to remember the hands that had caused those bruises. She let out a shaky breath, and pushed her skirt down, and quickly grabbed the pair of underwear from her bag, and pulled them on.

'_You really should learn your place Rose.' _ Rose closed her eyes, hearing his voice in her head again, '_You're mine now," _shaking her head as she tried to block it out. She knelt down, and started to go through the bag, finding a pair of cut off shorts that would hide the markings on her body well enough, and she stood back up, pulling them on, ignoring the voice that was echoing in her head, not aware of the sound of someone coming up behind her.

Daryl spotted Rose getting changed, pulling her shorts up as he came up to her, and took her elbow in his hand, not expecting her to scream and swing at him, and he blocked her blow to his face, shouting back at her, "Hey! Hey, Rosie calm down, it's me, it's Daryl." He said, grabbing onto her arms as she tried to push him away, the look of fear on her face causing him to worry more until she finally came to and saw him, her eyes blurry.

"D-Daryl, I…" She trailed off her hands flattening out on his chest, and he looked down at her, stroking her hair with one of his hands.

"What is it Rose? What's wrong? What happened?" Rose shook her head as she closed her eyes, muttering out nothing, "Rosie, come on… just… just talk to me." Daryl begged, his hands going to her face as she shook her head.

"I'm fine," She said, shaking her head as she tried to pull away from him, "I'm fine, Daryl, I'm fine, I'm fine." She kept repeating it, her voice cracking, "Nothing happened, y-you just scared me." Daryl wiped away the tear the slipped down her cheek, not believing her for one second.

"Rosie, tell me." He whispered, watching as she opened her mouth, her lip quivering as she turned her head, and let out a sob.

"I, I did everything I could," She said grabbing onto his shirt, "I, I tried, I tried to stop him, I did… but, but I…I, Ryder… he… I can't, I'm sorry, I'm so sorry."

Rose began to sob, her entire body trembling as her knees gave a little, Daryl keeping her up as he watched her carefully, taking in what she was trying to say, and his jaw clinched when he put the pieces together.

Daryl knew what had happened, he saw those bruises on her side, how she acted when he touched her, how distant she was… The Governor, he had.. He closed his eyes, he couldn't even think about it, he didn't want to think about it, about Rose being hurt like that, violated like that.

Daryl stroked her hair, shushing her quietly as he held her tightly in her arms, not planning on letting her go any time soon, and didn't let himself feel angry right now, even though he wanted nothing more to go and lash out at Merle for letting it happen, for bringing Rose to that place, for putting her in the position where she had to go through that… and he wanted nothing more than to find the governor, and beat the man to death, to make sure there was no way he'd ever hurt Rose again, or Jamie.

"I love you," Daryl whispered, holding her closer as he let them sink down to the ground, knowing that was really all he could say, because there was no taking back what was done, there was no undoing it. He pressed his lips to her forehead, his eyes closed before wrapping his arms around her neck, and let her cry into his shoulder.

Merle shushed Jamie when the little girl sniffled, both of them ducking back behind a tree they were behind, Jamie looking up at Merle as he sighed.

"What's wrong with my mom?" Jamie whispered, wiping at her eyes as Merle turned to her frowning a little, "We shouldn't be watching… this isn't right."

Merle let out a groan as he sat down at the tree nodding, "No it ain't, I was hoping for something I could use against him," He said picking at the grass as Jamie looked at him strangely, "This is just like watching a damn soap opera." Jamie sent him a look rolling her eyes.

"You're so weird," She muttered as she stood up, and walked back in the direction of their stuff, Merle rolling his eyes.

"You're so weird," He mocked as he stood, and hurried after her, glancing over his shoulder at his brother as he held his girl, and he frowned just a bit, wishing he had come in sooner to stop the Governor.


	26. Prison Break

_Rose bit her lip, her hands gripping the sides of the table as she felt Daryl's hands moving up her sides, warm and rough, just like she remembered them. It had been so long since they were together, since she could feel his breath on the back of her neck, hear his steady breathing in her ear. She missed it, the only touch she missed so much. _

_She let out a surprised gasp when his hands gripped her sides tighter, pushing his body against hers, pulling her shirt from her as his lips found her neck, sucking, nipping, licking all those spots that drove her wild, and coaxed moans from her mouth easily, her not even trying to hold back now. "God Daryl," She breathed out, feeling his hands slipping under her skirt as he pulled her underwear down, one of his hands on her hip while the other one tangled into her hair, pulling her head back just a bit so he could feel his scruff against her cheek as he nibbled at her ear, "You're mine now." Her eyes widened when she heard the governor's voice, and she let out a scream when her head was slammed down against the table._

Rose sat up with a gasp, her eyes wide as she clutched her chest, tears welling up in her eyes as she looked around, hearing snores around her. It was a dream, it was just a dream. She told herself her eyes closing as a few traitorous tears slipped out, her hand moving to her mouth to keep herself from sobbing. She jumped just a bit when she felt a hand run up her back, and she heard Daryl's soft hum, shushing her gently as he sat up, his lips finding her shoulder.

"S'alright," He murmured against her skin, pulling her into his side as she nods, leaning her head against his chest, "S'alright Rose." He whispered, stroking her hair gently with his hand, trying to coax her back to sleep. It had been like that all night, she'd drift off for a while before she was plagued with nightmares from her time in Woodbury.

But Daryl was there with her, keeping her calm through it all, and acting like a rock, him and Jamie being the only things holding her together right now.

"I'm sorry Daryl," She whispered as she laid her head in his lap, Daryl telling her not to be as she stared off at the sun rising, Merle and Jamie's snores filling the air, "I wish… I wish I could just dream about you without _him_ ruining it." She whimpered, and Daryl frowned a little, stroking her hair.

Daryl wished he knew what to say to her, what to do to help her, but there wasn't anything, they just had to wait it out, he had to be strong for her, and they had to wait until this was in the past. The sound of yawning caught both of their attentions now, and Rose sat up slowly, wiping at her eyes as Daryl looked back, watching as Merle stretched his arms over his head, his good hand going down to scratch at his stomach, looking at the two.

"What are ya'll gawking at?" He asked loudly, Daryl glaring at him as Jamie stirred now, and Merle looked at the girl, "Well, looks like we're all up, time to get movin'."

҉

Logan was sitting at the picnic table in the cell block, a clipboard in hand as he wrote down the list of all the medical supplies he had left, his lips pursed in concentration before he let out a soft sigh, using the cap of the pen to scratch the back of his neck. They were running low on supplies, and he'd typically discuss with it Rick, but the man was out in the field. They'd returned, and Rick went berserk on the group that they had rescued, and forced them to leave. Logan had given them a little of their supplies to tie them over until they found a safe place, but he couldn't help but worry about them… Rick really didn't leave a good impression on them either.

"Hey you," Logan turned his head, smiling as Johanna placed her hands on his shoulders, squeezing gently as she bent down to press a chaste kiss to his lips, "How are we doing?" She asked, wrapping her arms around his neck as she leaned into him, Logan sighing again as he set the clipboard down shrugging.

"Not to good," He mutters, "We're low on antibiotics, we've only got about five syringes left, no medical tape, and the only thing we have to sterilize the surgical kits is the stash of Wild Turkey Daryl had hidden."

Johanna laughed just a bit at Logan's attempt to lighten the mood, but frowned when she remembered that Daryl was no longer with them, nor was Rose, or Jamie. "We'll go on a town run soon," She murmured, moving to sit by him on the bench, placing her hand on his knee, "There was that small clinic not to far from here, maybe they have some supplies."

Logan nods slowly, "Maybe." He echoed, looking around the room now, everyone was still a bit down because of the new losses to the group; Rose and Daryl really were a big part of the group's stability, and not having Jamie running around, cheering up everyone definitely made the prison feel even more depressing.

"Things will get better baby," Logan looked back at Johanna as she moved her hand to the back of his neck, pulling at his hair a little, "Sure, right now… things are pretty rough, but things will look up." Johanna smiled sadly, and Logan nods.

"Daryl is the only reason we're here," He murmured, "I just… I feel a little bad we weren't there to convince him to stay."

Johanna nods, she felt the same way… in fact, since Rick returned she couldn't help but feel a little angry at the fearless leader for not trying harder to get him to stay… She had heard about what Merle had done… but Daryl was important… he was so important to the group. She sighed, "There was nothing we could have done."

Logan closed his eyes, she was right, of course she was right, "I'm sure they're doing just fine," Johanna murmured, leaning her head against Logan's shoulder, "It's Daryl and Rose after all, what could possibly happen to them?"

҉

"Man, ain't nothing out here but mosquitoes and ants," Rose slapped her arm as Daryl spoke, successfully killing the flying bug that was trying to make a meal out of her, glaring over at Merle, who was busy relieving himself on a tree, Jamie's back to him, the young blonde glaring at the woods ahead of her.

"Patience little brother, sooner or late squirrel's bound to scurry across your path." Rose rolled her eyes, crossing her arms over her chest as she looked over to Daryl, who was scanning the forest.

"Yeah well even so it ain't much food,"

"Eh, more than nothing."

Rose really wanted to punch Merle in the back of his head, more than nothing, sure it was more than nothing but it wasn't enough to feed all damn four of them.

"We'd have better luck looking through those houses we passed on the turn off,"

"At least one of the Dixon brothers has brains," Rose turned to look at Jamie as the little girl spoke, her eyebrow raised as she took in her daughter's snarky comment, that only she and Daryl heard.

"Yeah, is that what your new friends taught you? Hmm?" Rose turned to look at Merle, watching as he looked to his brother as he fastened his pants back up, mocking his brother. "How to loot for booty?" Merle chuckled, looking over at Rose, "Which you did pretty damn well in that department."

Rose rolled her eyes, turning away from Merle, "Man, we've been at it for hours." Daryl sighed, ignoring his brother's perverted comment on Rose, "Why don't we try to find a stream, try our luck with some fish?"

Rose really didn't understand what the dramatic change in attitude was with Daryl, she knew that Merle had always had an a way of getting to him, Daryl had told her that much, but this… passive aggressive attitude he was holding wasn't something she understood, "I think you're just trying to lead me back to the road man, get me over to that prison."

Jamie sighed, "It be safer than being stuck out here in the stupid woods." She grumbled, kicking some of the forest brush up towards Merle, who was knelt down beside the girls turning to them.

"For you maybe," Merle said to her, Jamie pouting as she turned away from him again, "Ain't gonna be no damn party for me,"

Rose placed a hand on Jamie's shoulder as Merle stood up, Rose knowing perfectly well what Jamie was wanting to say to Daryl's brother right then and there, "You'd get used to each other," Rose watched as Daryl continued to mess around with his crossbow, speaking to Merle, but not really looking at him or acknowledging him, almost like he was afraid to.

"They're all dead," Rose looked to Merle as he spoke, "Makes no difference."

"How can you be so sure?" Rose felt Jamie tense up just a bit as she listened intently on what Merle said next, the little girl becoming angrier by the second.

"Right about now, he's probably hosting a house warming party." Rose winced, she knew who he meant, the Governor, he was going to attack the prison; he probably already did, "Where he's going to bury what's left of your pals." Rose closed her eyes now, Jamie pulling from her hold, "Let's hook some fish."

"You're an asshole." Jamie shouted at Merle, and Rose eyes snapped opening watching as her daughter pushed passed Merle, and Daryl both, trotting ahead of them, and she let out a sigh.

"God damn it Merle," She grumbled, "Jamie, Jamie honey wait up." Daryl stood back as he watched the girls walk ahead, Merle chuckling to himself.

"Come on," He said, and followed after Rose and Jamie, Daryl standing there for a moment before following after them.

"Jamie, Jamie, honey do not run off like that." Rose said, catching her daughter by her elbow, the little girl jerking from her hold.

"Mr. Merle is a liar," She said angrily, "How could he say that about them? They would never get killed, never… we… we should go back momma, we should make sure they're okay."

Rose bit her lip, "We can't baby, we gotta stay with Daryl." Jamie shook her head, her hands balling up into fists.

"Daryl can come to! Momma, you can convince him! You can always make Daryl do things he don't wanna do. You're you! You could even get Merle to shut his big dumb mouth I bet!" Jamie was obviously tired, and when she was tired, she got cranky, and she didn't try to be the polite little girl Rose had raised, a lot like Rose herself. But Rose couldn't do any of that, she didn't want to… she didn't have the will to try and sway Daryl back to the prison, and what kind of person would she even be if she tried to get him to go against his family?

"No honey," Rose murmured shaking her head again, "Merle is Daryl's brother, and Merle doesn't belong in that prison, he did too much harm." She didn't know how to explain it where her daughter would understand, a PG version of the situation, "We'll just have to struggle through this honey, we've done it before, we can do it again."

Jamie crossed her arms over her chest, "I don't want to do it again… I want to be with the group, with Beth and Joey, with Carl," Jamie was starting to choke up, and Rose turned her head, "I don't wanna move around anymore momma… I want this all to be over. I want to go home! I wanna go home, and I want nana back, and granpa." Jamie rubbed at her eyes, the tears spilling out now, and Rose knelt down in front of her, her hands going to her daughter's arms as she pulled her to her chest.

"I know baby, I know." Rose didn't fight back her tears now as Jamie began to sob into her chest, stilling mumbling about going home, about their family they lost.

_Rose stood outside of the big wrap around porch, glancing back at the boarded up front door every now and again. They had been attacked by the time Rose got there, her father was bit, and her mother was in shock… and now they were busy trying to get all their supplies together, ready to make their way to Atlanta, but her father wasn't doing very well… In fact, Rose was afraid he was going to turn into one of those things. She knew how infections spread, and he was bit, so as far as she knew he was no infected… but she just didn't have the heart to give up on him, not yet._

"_I thought you quit that," Rose jumped just a bit at the sound of her mother's voice, and she turned, watching as she wiped her bloodied hands onto the floral apron she wore, smiling sadly at her._

"_Thought I deserved one," Rose mumbled, taking another drag from her cigarette as her mother walked down the steps towards her._

"_Still kills you," Julie said, taking the cigarette from her hand, and took a drag for herself, Rose snorting._

"_Thought you quit?" _

_Rose's mother smiled, her blue eyes sparking, "I know I deserve one," She chuckled, and Rose laughed, leaning her head on her mother's shoulder as she sighed, taking the cigarette back._

"_Maybe this will all be over tomorrow," Rose murmured, relaxing some when her mother's arm wrapped around her waist, "The military will release some cure through the air, and all those… things will die, and all the infected will be cured." She glanced over at her mother as the woman sighed._

"_Maybe Rosemarie, maybe… or maybe this is God punishing us," Rose groaned, "Or maybe it's just damn bad luck." Julie elbowed her in the ribs, Rose rolling her eyes as she threw the cigarette on the ground, looking over at her mom as he woman smiled, "But it ain't nothing to be giving up about." _

_Rose opened her mouth, and her mother held up a finger, shutting her up instantly, "I know that face Rose, I've seen it on you so many times baby… When you didn't think you'd be able to overcome your addiction, when you were afraid you would be a horrible mother, " Rose frowns as she looks away, her mother grabbing her chin, making her look back, that damn finger still pointed at her, "You are a Waters, we don't give up, we overcome, we thrive, and we will get through this." She said, and slapped her daughter on the face gently, but still hard enough to leave a sting, making Rose wince._

"_Ow Mom," She groaned rubbing at her cheek as her mother nodded._

"_Damn right ow, now snap out of it or next time I'll-,"_

_Her mother was cut off by the sound of Jamie screaming, Rose and Julie both looking at each other for a moment before running into the house._

"_Jamie! Jamie! Baby?!" Rose shouted for her, running up the stairs, her eyes going wide at the sight of her father, who had been asleep on the bed only a few moments ago, was now pounding at the wooden door to the closet, leaving bloody hand marks as he tried to get to the crying girl behind the door._

"_James, oh God please no." Rose heard her mother's cries from behind her, her father slowly turning to look at them now, his once green lively eyes cloudy and dead, as he let out an animal like noise._

_Her father came towards her now, and Rose shouted to Jamie not to leave the closet as she quickly moved back, pushing her mother back with her as she pulled the gun from her pants, pointing it at her father as he hobbled towards her._

"_Daddy, daddy please stop, listen to me." She cried, pushing the man back with all her strength making him fall down, and her mother held onto her wrist._

"_Baby no, he might.. He might still be in there, maybe we can just talk him through it, get him to come back to us." Her mother cried, and Rose shook her head, the tears rolling down her cheeks._

"_Daddy," Rose sobbed as she watched the man try to pick himself up off the floor, growling and groaning, reaching out for her as she kept her mother back, "Please… daddy, don't make me do this."_

_It was too late, Rose knew, she could tell her father was gone, he wasn't there anymore… he was dead and whatever this thing was in front of her wanted nothing but to hurt her. She let out another sob as she leveled her gun with his head, "I'm so sorry." She cried, her hands trembling as her finger tightened on the trigger, her eyes squeezed shut as the gun went off, and her father's body fell with a thump to the ground._

"Rosie," Rose felt Daryl's hand on her shoulder, and she looked up, "Come on, we're moving, I can carry Jamie for a while." He murmured, Rose pulling back as Jamie moved so Daryl could pick her up, grabbing onto Rose's hand to help her to her feet as Merle sighed.

"Come on you four, we ain't got all day."

҉

Rose was stumbling over her own feet now, her entire body sore from how long they had been walking through the woods, being eaten alive by all the damn mosquitoes in Georgia it seemed. She tuned in and out of the conversation Daryl and Merle were having, trying to guess what river or creek they were approaching. Jamie seemed to be even throwing in some meaningless rambles, and Rose wondered if she was either trying to distract herself, or if she really just enjoyed being mean to Merle right now… either were possible.

When the men stopped, Rose stumbled into Daryl, who quickly grabbed her by her elbow to keep her from falling, shushing her as he listened to something that she hadn't noticed before. A baby crying.

"That's a baby," Rose looked over to Daryl, swallowing a little as she worried about the crying infant, looking over to Merle, who scoffed.

"That there is the sound of coons making love sweet love," Rose let out a sigh as Merle's remark, placing her hand over Jamie's eyes as the man made crude gestures, Daryl rolling his eyes as he took a hold of Rose's hand, "Yah know what I mean?" Merle chuckled as Daryl dragged Rose and Jamie away, heading towards the sound of the baby crying.

Rose eye's widened when they came out of the woods into a clearing of water, the bridge over top of it full of walkers, and a few survivors trying to fight them off, spouting out Spanish to one another, the infant's crying loud and clear as day now, Daryl letting go of her hand.

"Hey, jump!" Merle shouted, and Rose slapped the man in the stomach, sending him a dirty look.

"Shut it Merle," She said shaking her head as she looked back up at the bridge, Jamie holding onto her hand tighter as Merle laughed.

"We gotta help them," Jamie said, following after Daryl who was making his way towards the bridge.

"Huh?" Merle asked, following after Jamie and Daryl, Rose giving one last look at the bridge before following in toe, "Why? Hey, man, I ain't wasting my bullets for a couple of strangers who ain't ever cooked me a meal, that's my policy."

Rose sighed, quickly pulling her bag off of her back, as she reached in for the little pistol, "Jamie, Jamie baby." Rose managed to catch up to her daughter, Merle and Daryl running on a head, "Here baby." Rose said as she quickly checked the gun's ammunition, before popping it back in place, and handing it to her daughter carefully, "Only use it if one gets to close baby okay?" She said, Jamie nodding as she took the gun, and Rose pulled her own gun from the side of her pants, the two girls hurrying to catch up to Daryl and Merle.

Rose moved ahead of Jamie, letting out a nervous breath as she took in all the walkers surround the cars on the bridge, Daryl ahead of them, taking out as many as he could as Merle stood on the sidelines, "Move your fucking ass Merle!" She shouted at him, dropping her bag, before grabbing Jamie's waist, and helped her move to get on top of one of the cars, "Baby stay up here, aim for the heads alright?" Jamie nods, and Rose quickly moves ahead, managing to get one of the walkers banging against the car door the crying infant was in right in the back of the head.

"_No se preocupe, estamos aqui para ayudar_!" Rose shouted out in the little bit of Spanish she knew, noting how the other survivors seemed to understand her.

"_Gracias, Gracias_!" The man standing beside either his son or brother said, and Rose aimed for the walkers after them, taking one of them out as Daryl got the other, Rose aimed at the walkers that were heading towards them across the bridge as Daryl killed the remaining walkers around the car, Jamie taking a few out ahead of them, the little girl shouting in joy on top of the old car whenever she got one.

"Daryl, I gotcha," Merle shouted, and Rose glanced back at him, about time she thought to herself shaking her head as she went back to taking out the rest of the walkers.

Rose lowered her gun once all the walkers were gone, and walked over to the man, giving him a small smile, "_Su familia esta a salvo_." She said, placing a hand on his shoulder, the man thanking her again before being distracted by whatever Merle was doing.

Rose turned to him, her eyes wide a he pointed the gun at the man, "MERLE WHAT THE HELL!" She shouted, walking over to him, getting in front of the man, "What are you doing? These people were just attacked!"

"Let 'em go," Rose glanced over at Daryl, who was glaring at his own brother now.

"_Lo siento mucho_," Rose said, turning to the man as Daryl simply stared down his brother, "_Queremos decir nada malo_."

"The least they can do is give us an enchilada or something," Merle murmured as he lowered the gun, and began to rummage through the man's car.

"Merle, stop," Rose moved towards him, looking over at Daryl as he rounded the car now, "Jamie honey, come here!" Rose shouted, looking back over to Jamie, her daughter nodding as she slid off the car, and ran over to her.

"Stop it Merle!" Jamie shouted, stopping beside her mother, "Las nachos," Jamie said as she turned to the man, Rose wincing as she shook her head, placing her hand on her daughter's head.

"_Triste_," Rose mumbled, turning back to Merle, watching s Daryl pointed his crossbow at his back.

"Get out of the car,"

"I know you're not talking to me brother," Rose glared at Merle, looking over to Daryl as he told the family to get out of there.

"_Meterese en el coche e ir_." Rose translated for him, gesturing to the vehicle as she took a step back with Jamie.

"Go, get in your car!" Daryl shouted again, and the men listened, Merle looking back at Daryl, before moving away from the door, Daryl with his crossbow pointed directly at Merle's face, not dropping it. The car reversed, Rose making a face as it ran over a walker's head, before speeding away and Merle gently pushed at Daryl's crossbow, and he dropped it, the brother's glaring at each other still. Daryl walked away now, and Rose gestured for Jamie to follow Merle turning to look at her.

"What," He snapped at her, and Rose narrowed her eyes before doing the first thing that came to mind, and punched him as hard as she could in the jaw, making him stumble back.

"Asshole," She spat out, before storming after Daryl and Jamie, who only stopped to look at the punch for a moment, Daryl handing her, her bag as the three headed back into the woods.

Rose walked alongside Daryl, glancing over at him every now and again. He was angry, his jaw was clenched, and he was walking very fast, so fast Jamie was having a hard time keeping up with them.

"Daryl calm down," She murmured, gently grabbing onto his hand, noticing how he flinched a little, as he looked over at her for a second, "Don't get to worked up." She said, giving him a look and he nods.

"You punched him," He states, and Rose nods.

"Yeah," She said, holding up her hand, flexing her fingers, "Hurt a lot more than I expected it to." She chuckled, and Daryl shook his head, fighting back a smile as he took her hand, and brought it up to his lips.

"Nice to hear you're laugh," He said, and Rose gives him a weak smile, going to speak, but was interrupted by Merle.

"The shit you do pointing that thing at me," Merle asked angrily from behind them, Daryl walking along still, Rose falling back some to get with Jamie.

"They were scared man," Daryl said, Rose nodding.

"Big ol' red neck like you comes barging into their car, I'd be a little scared to." She says with a small shrug, Jamie giggling by her side.

"They were rude is what they were," Rose scoffed, shaking her head, "Rude and they owed as a token of gratitude."

"They didn't owe us nothing,"

"Yeah, you helpin' people out from the goodness of your heart, even though you might die doing it, is that something your sheriff friend Rick taught you?" Merle asked, and Daryl turned around.

"There was a baby!" Daryl shouted, and Rose placing her hand on Jamie's shoulder to keep her from getting into their argument.

"Oh, or otherwise you would have just left them to the biters then?"

Rose bit her lip, moving her hand to the back of Jamie's head as she pulled her daughter closer, watching the Dixon brothers carefully.

"Man I went back for you, you weren't there," Daryl shouted, pointing his arrow at Merle, "I didn't cut off your hand neither, you did that, way before they locked you up on that roof, you asked for it." Daryl said, and Merle shook his head, laughing a bit.

"You know, you know what's funny to me? Hmm? You and Sheriff Rick, you're like this now, right?" Merle said, his fingers crossed together as he looked over at Rose, "You and your sheriff, and your girl here," Merle turned back to Darly,"I betchu a penny and a fiddle of gold that you never told him that we were planning on robbing that camp blind." Rose heard Jamie let out a little gasp, and Rose sighed shaking her head as Daryl looked over at him, giving him a small nod.

"It didn't happen," He almost growled out, and Merle nods.

"Yeah, it didn't, cause I wasn't there to help you."

"Like when were kids? Huh? Who left who then?"

Rose felt her heart ache at that, she could see how much that hurt Daryl, Merle leaving him as kids. He didn't talk much about it, but he had opened up every now and again, and told her enough to understand exactly what he meant, and how angry that seemed to make Merle.

"WHAT? HUH? IS THAT WHY I LOST MY HAND?"

"You lost your hand cause you're a simple minded piece of shit!" Daryl shouted back at him, turning to walk away and Rose followed after them

"Yeah you don't know!", Merle yelled, Rose yelling at Merle when he grabbed onto Daryl's shirt, trying to pull him back, and causing his shirt to rip, making him fall, revealing all his scars his father had caused him. Jamie ran over to Daryl's aid as he tried to fix his shirt, embarrassed, pulling away from Merle, the two men both breathing heavily as Merle stared at the scars on his brother's back.

"I-I didn't know he was-,"

"Yeah he did, he did the same to you, that's why you left first." Daryl interrupted, gathering his things back up, putting his bag back on as Jamie handed him his arrows, and the other few items he dropped, Rose going over to stand beside them.

"I had to man, I would have killed him otherwise." He said, Daryl grabbing Jamie's hand as he stood, nodding for Rose to follow him as he headed away from his brother, "Where are you going?!" Merle shouted, and Daryl stopped turning back to look at his brother.

"Back where I belong," He said looking over at Rose, "Where my girls belong!" He said, "They don't need to be out here, not now, not after what happened." Daryl looked back to Merle, "What you let happen." Rose closed her eyes, shaking her head as Merle became quiet

"I can't go with you," Merle said, "I… I tried to kill that black bitch," Rose glared at Merle, shaking her head, "Damn near killed the Chinese kid."

"He's Korean!"

"Whatever," Rose placed her hand over her mouth, closing her eyes as Jamie gripped onto her shirt, "Doesn't matter man, I just can't go with you. "

Rose looked over to Daryl, seeing him thinking about it for a moment, "You know, I may be the one walking away, but you're the one that's leaving, again."

Daryl took Jamie's hand, and headed back towards the prison, Rose looking over at Merle before following after Daryl, her hand going to the back of his neck as they walked, leaning her head against him, not really knowing what to say to him.

"Merle stopped it," Rose murmured suddenly, Daryl turning his head a bit to look at her, "He… he came in before the Governor was able to…" She trailed off shaking her head as she remembered, "But he stopped him, and he tried to save me still."

Daryl nods slowly, biting his lip, "Bastard's trailing behind us right now." Daryl muttered, Rose glancing back, before stopping when Daryl moved to pick up Jamie, "Don't know what I'll say to convince the other's to let him stay."

Rose nods, smiling a little as Jamie wrapped her arms around his neck, nuzzling against his shoulder as she yawned, "I'm sure we can think of something." She smiled, giving him one last look before he nodded, and they began to walk again, Merle still trailing behind them.

҉

Logan gritted his teeth as he pushed one of the old concrete tables onto its side with Johanna's help, both of them had thought it be a good way to keep themselves safe once the governor attacked, and still give them room to fight back. But those damn tables were heavy as hell.

"How many more?" Logan groaned as he placed his hands his sides, leaning back to crack his back, Johanna laughing a little at his whiny voice as she wiped the sweat from her face.

"Three," Johanna smiled, walking over to the other table as Logan followed behind her sluggishly, "Come on, it's not that hard." She teased, Logan sending her a look as he grabbed onto the edge of the table.

"You try doing it by yourself then short stuff," He stated, and Johanna rolled her eyes, "Yeah exactly, you wouldn't be able to." He chuckled as the couple began to push the table over, Logan letting out an unflattering grunt as the table fell to the side, and he fell back on his ass, spreading his limbs out as far as they go as he groaned. "I'm done, let's take a break."

Johanna smiled shaking her head as she walked over to him, placing her hands on her hips. "You're being lazy," She accuses, and Logan shook his head, throwing his arm over his eyes to block out the sun as Johanna kicked at his shoe, before sighing, letting him have his little break.

Axel and Carol had been setting up defenses up on the bridge, but were now talking to each other while Carl and Beth stood a little bit away from them. Everyone seemed to be watching Rick and Hershel curiously; even Michonne who had been by the bus, guarding the front gate all day seemed very worried, and Johanna couldn't blame them. Rick had definitely lost it, and she wasn't sure what it was going to take to bring him back.

"Hey Joey, come look at this." Johanna turned, seeing Logan, who was now kneeling beside the concrete only a little away from where he had been lying, and she walked over, sighing sadly when she saw what he was looking at.

"Jamie's chalk drawings," Johanna mumbled as she crouched down beside him, looking at the fading pictures of the group, each member drawn out with their names scribbled under them, "She got you spot on." Johanna giggled pointing to the drawing of Logan that had legs longer than the rest of his body, and messy hair, "And me." She ran her fingers under the drawing of her, a short little figure next to Logan, and next them was Jamie with Rose, alongside Daryl and Ryder who had angry faces.

"Wonder when she did this," Logan murmured, resting back against his heels as Johanna stood up.

"Must've been a little before she went missing, we haven't had any rain as of lately so they're still here." Johanna crossed her arms over her chest, looking out into the field as Logan hummed, nodding his head, "Logan… Do you… Do you ever think about us having kids?"

Logan looked up from his spot on the ground, raising an eyebrow at Johanna as she looked back to him, "What?"

"Do you ever think maybe we could have kids," Johanna trailed off frowning some, "I.. With Lori… it was just… just a case of horrible and tragic timing." She closed her eyes, "If we, maybe if we are able to secure this prison even more, and deal with that Governor guy…" Johanna shook her head, "Never mind, I don't know what im saying."

Johanna turned to walk away, but Logan was up and grabbing onto her wrist before she could, and he pulled her back, smiling a little, "I think we could." He smiled, shrugging, "Not now… but once we're sure we're safe." He cupped her cheek in his hand, smiling more when she did, "We can finally get married too."

Johanna bit her lip as she nods, "Hershel could marry us," She smiled, and Logan laughed.

"One legged preacher, sounds like something straight out of the south." Johanna hit him playfully, and Logan laughed as he wrapped his arms around her neck, pressing his lips to her temple.

"Don't be mean," She laughed, her arms wrapping around his waist, "I just wi-,"

The sound of gun fire, and Carol's shouting interrupted her, and Logan quickly pulled her down the ground, the two scrambling for cover behind one of the concrete tables, Logan pulling his side arm out.

"What is going on!?" Johanna whispered, and Logan peeked over the edge of the table, being fired at as soon as he did and ducked back down.

"It has to be the Governor's men," He said shaking his head, "Hershel and Michonne are both trapped out in the field," Logan placed his arm over Johanna, moving a bit to check on the others, "Looks like Axel's dead, Carol looks okay, Beth and Carl are safe." He cursed, "I think Glenn's still gone." He moved back, pressing himself against the table, "There's a guy up in Rose's tower." He murmured, "He's got a bird's eye view on us all, do not move you understand?" Johanna nods, swallowing down the lump in her throat.

"What are we going to do?"

Logan shook his head slowly, not knowing how to answer her as the gun fire ceased, and he turned slowly, looking over the top of the table again, hearing Maggie calling to Beth, and spotted her running out with some guns, "Come on, we gotta run, now." Logan grabbed Johanna's hand, "Stay low." He ordered as the two sprinted towards Maggie, being shot at a few times before they reached her, both safe.

"Hershel's out in the field," Logan said quickly as he grabbed the gun she handed to her, "Michonne too, and Rick's still on the other side of the fence." Logan told her, "Jo, stay here with Beth and Carl, I'm going to try and take that bastard out." He said, Johanna nodding as she quickly kissed him, watching as he ran, dodging the bullets being shot at him before ducking down behind one of the concrete tables on the far side of the prison, aiming for the person in the watch tower.

The gunfire ceased again once Maggie and Logan had managed to get the gunner in the tower down, and Johanna's eyebrow's creased together in confusion, hearing the sound of an engine revving in the distance before a van crashed through the gates, almost hitting Michonne in the process before slamming to a stop, and letting dozens of walkers out of the back of it.

"Shit," Johanna shook her head as she quickly moved towards the gate leading out into the field, the grass was tall, and she was short, she'd easily be able to hide from the gunners to get to Hershel in time, before he was found by the walkers. She quickly shouted for Beth and Carl to stay put as she squeezed through the opening in the gate, and sprinted towards Hershel, a few shots being fired at her, all missing. She fired away at the walkers near her, successfully getting them down as she spotted Hershel.

"Are you alright?" She asked quickly as she reached him, grabbing onto his hand to help him up, spotting Michonne making her way towards them, hearing the sound of another engine in the distance, spotting Rose's old truck that Glenn was using, "Glenn's on his way, come on."

Johanna said, helping Hershel stand, trying to support the one-legged old man through the rugged terrain back to the safety of the prison. Johanna heard Michonne scream out a warning, but was too distracted trying to get Hershel to safety - she could save him, she knew she could. The growls and moans that were alarmingly close to her brought her out of the blind resolution, and she turned around, ready to stab whatever was behind them - but it was too little, too late. The very undead fingers of Ryder wrapped around her arm, and his teeth sank into her arm. Johanna let out a shrill scream, her eyes welling up with tears as she felt every strand of flesh being tugged out of her arm as Ryder tugged at her arm. The sight before her was so surreal, but she managed to tug her arm out of his weak hold, falling back in the process. Weak sobs and breathless whimpers left her lips as she glanced back at Hershel, only he was nowhere to be found. She kicked back against the dirt as Ryder moved forth, his eyes fixed on her arm and the very open wound in them. Johanna, on the other hand, didn't look at it. She was going to die, but she wasn't going to die eaten, and she sure as hell wasn't going to become one of these things. She scrambled on her feel, tumbling weakly, falling to her knees before she went up again on wobbly feet. She let out a weak scream when someone's arm snagged around her waist, and pulled her back into the truck. Johanna burst into breathless sobs, her arm growing numb from blood loss. "I'm bit..I-He bit me..I'm bit, Glenn.." She gasped between sobs, and Glenn's eyes fell to her arm, before she cursed under his breath, "We'll fix this." He said in a desperate attempt of solace, and his eyes turned desperately to the old man, who cut the sleeve of his shirt to tie it above her elbow. Johanna stared at him with confused and rather tired hazel hues, before she looked down at the open wound again, "I don't want to become like them.." She whispered weakly as she looked up at Hershel again, then her eyes flickered to his amputated leg - and just like that she felt like she was going to hurl.

Logan managed to get Maggie to safety, but his mind never shook the image of Johanna running off into the fields to get Hershel. He'd seen Glenn close by, and had to tear himself away from the gunman on the tower shot them down. Now though, he was frantically searching everyone who made their way in – looking for Hershel, Glenn, and most importantly, Johanna. "Where are they?!" He demanded to Maggie who too was pacing around nervously.

When the gate doors where open though, Logan froze. Glenn walked in; in his arms he carried Johanna- who looked even paler than her usual self. One arm draped over her stomach and the other dangled down by her side, and Logan's eyes traced down to the blood that dripped to the ground from the wound in her arm. "No.." He shook his head, feeling someone just punched him in the gut. He drowned everything, until Maggie slapped the back of his head, "Snap out of it! You need to help her!" She told him sternly, and when he glanced around, they were nowhere to be found.

"H-help her?" Logan asked, his voice weak, "She's going to die..." Logan gasped, and he could feel his heart start racing. Maggie grabbed his arm, "Daddy's gonna cut her arm. You need to help her." Maggie explained, and he could hear the tears in her voice. Logan followed after Maggie, tripping over his feet before they finally reached the empty cell. Logan took a deep breath, his eyes falling onto Johanna's pale figure on the ground, a pillow underneath her head as Glenn scrambled around the room, "We need fire." Hershel muttered as he eased on the ground. Maggie had to push Logan in before he realized what he had to do. Quickly, he fell to his knees beside Johanna, and took her free, unharmed hand in his, "Baby I'm so sorry…" He whispered as he pressed his lips to her palm, stroking her hair out of her face. Her eyes flickered up to him weakly as she breathed heavily, "Are you…are you sure you want to do this? You don't have to do it for me…Are you sure?" Logan asked, because he would never live with himself if Johanna cut her own arm off just to save him the agony of losing her. Hershel stopped when he heard the question, and his eyes moved to Johanna's face again.

Johanna's gulped, then smiled, "I'm doing it for the kids." Johanna whispered weakly, and Logan laughed – it was weak, sad. He looked up at Hershel and nodded. The old man had a grim expression on his face as he raised the axe. Logan held Johanna's shoulders down, pressing his forehead against her chest. Maggie moved to hold her feet. Then the axe came down.

"I'm so, so sorry…" Logan sobbed as Johanna's scream echoed through the cell block. Everyone had fallen silent. Hershel stroke the axe down around three times before the infected limb was separated, and they weren't even sure if it'd work. Logan stroked her cheeks as Johanna's passed out, the pain of it being too much. "I'm sorry, I'm so sorry." He whispered as he stroked back her hair, kissed her forehead. "I'm here...I won't leave, I promise."

҉

The entire yard was full of walkers by the time Daryl, Rose, Merle and Jamie got to the prison. The Governor had attacked, and they had gotten their in just the nick of time to save Rick from being walker chow.

Rose was following close behind Rick, Merle, Jamie and Daryl, the Governor and his men had left, but not before leaving them a parting gift, a yard full of walkers, all over again. They'd be able to clear them out sure, but the damage was still done.

"Come on! Hurry up!" Merle's voice rung out as he cut through walker after walker, following Rick towards the gates where Glenn stood, and Rose was doing her best to keep up, they had almost reached safety, that is until she went to take out one of the walkers lingering around, and froze.

Rose stood three feet from a version of Ryder she had never wanted to face. He was her first love… her first heart break… the father of her child, and the man that died because of her, and now here he was, in the same tattered, blood stained clothes she saw him in last, fresh blood staining his teeth and around his mouth, and his green calloused eyes on her.

Daryl stopped once they were inside the gate, realizing now that Rose was no longer behind him and he turned, his eyes widening when he saw her.

"DADDY?" Jamie screamed at the sight of her father, and Daryl wrapped his arms around her, forcing her around so she wouldn't have to see him, the little girl sobbing now.

"God no," Glenn whispered as he leaned against the fence, Rick shouting for Rose, Daryl doing the same.

She heard Daryl calling to her from the side, Jamie in his arms, sobbing at the sight of her father, "Rosie, Rosie come on, let someone else take care of him… just come inside the fence." Daryl was being smart, the yard was full of walkers, sure the rest weren't as close as Ryder, but it wasn't safe.

"Rose, come on, we need you to help fix up Jo, we had to amputate her hand." Glenn called out to her, another reason for her to move, but she just couldn't, she couldn't will her feet to move… it was like seeing her mother in that state, her father… their once loving gaze turn to this… this hunger, their eyes blank, their voices gone… nothing left but an empty shell. Ryder was just a shell, he wasn't Ryder, Ryder was dead, he was dead because of her.

"Rosie," Daryl sounded desperate, and she heard the fence open up now just as the shell that was once Ryder approached her, and she gripped the knife in her hand tighter, "Rose, come on." She felt Daryl's hand wrap around her wrist, and she jerked herself away from him, letting out a strange sound that was a mix between a sob and a scream, flinging herself at the walker.

Daryl shouted out to her, his eyes going wide as he imagined her being bitten, but instead being greeted by the sound of her screams as she plunged the knife into the walker's skull, over and over again, her body on top of his, sobbing as she killed the walker, "Rose," Daryl whispered her name as he looked up, noticing the other walkers in the yard getting closer, Jamie sobbing from behind the gate, Rick holding her now, Carl and Glenn at his side, "Rose… baby, he's dead, he's dead." Daryl placed his hand on Rose's shoulder, stopping her movements, her breathing heavy as she let go of the knife that was stuck in Ryder's skull, pushing her bloody hair from her face as she held her arms out, looking at her soiled clothes, the blood splattered all over her, covering her face, her hands, her arms… Ryder's blood was all over her again.

"I'm sorry," Rose sobbed, her body slumping forward as she shook her head, "I'm so sorry, I'm so sorry Ryder, I'm sorry." She wailed, her hands going over her face, Ryder was there, he was forced to watch the Governor abuse her, he called out to her, trying to get the man to stop, trying with all his might to get free, and then he was shot… and he died, because she wasn't strong enough to fight back.

Daryl wrapped his arms tightly around Rose's waist, and pulled her away from Ryder's body, despite her protesting, and dragged her back within the safety of the gates, Rick quickly shutting it behind them, going to her side to try and help Daryl coax her from her hysteria.

"Rose," Rick's hand was holding her chin, keeping her from shaking her head as Daryl kept her from kicking and flailing, Jamie sitting on the ground not to far from them, "Rose calm down." Rick said his eyes pained and serious, "Johanna needs you right now Rose, Logan needs your help, or she might die."

Rose looked at him finally, her eyes glassy as she closed her eyes nodding, "Come one, we need to get inside." Rick pulled back, and Daryl let go of Rose, his hand on her arm still to keep her balanced.

"Come on," Glenn whispered, his hand on Rose's elbow, "Everything's alright now Rose." He whispered, he had been there too, he had heard everything that happened to her, to Maggie, to Ryder… and Rose closed her eyes as she remembered, "Let's go in."

Rose nods slowly, leaning into Daryl some, Glenn's hand moving to her back as Rick picked Jamie up, and carried her inside of the prison. Rose sill felt broken, but she could pull herself together, she had to, for her family's sake.

**_So, finally, a new chapter. I'm so sorry this took so long guys! But school and social life is a bitch. But anyways, first off, I'd like to thank my wonderful and amazingly talented muse, Yasmin, for providing us with those last few Loanna scenes, I couldn't have gotten this chapter posted if it was for her, and secondly, I have a blog dedicated to this story! It's for all of you to keep in touch with me, since I have a knack for vanishing, the url is safeandsound-fanfic at tumblr, I'm sure all of you know how to reach it from there, if not send me a PM. I hope you all enjoy this chapter! Don't forget to review, and let Yasmin know how wonderful she is! Thank you all!_


	27. You Did Good

The cell block had fallen into an eerie silence. Not a single survivor spoke to one another, all stood near the cell Rose was in, molding Johanna's severed hand into a stump to keep her from bleeding out, and to make sure the cut healed together nicely. Judith cooed every now and again, Beth bouncing the girl in her arms, trying to calm her while Daryl hovered near Rose, Logan by her side, his hand placed on Johanna's hot forehead, watching with red eyes as Rose pulled the red hot blade back, setting it down on the small metal table full of other surgical utensils all covered in Johanna's blood.

She had managed to pull herself together enough to help Johanna, but she still felt light headed, and her heart still ached, she was just trying to block everything out now, just not think about it, it was all she could do. Rose licked her lips, using her shoulder to brush some of the sweat from her brow as she wrapped the stub up in clean bandages, before pulling back.

"That's all I can do for now," Rose muttered grabbing the rag from the table as she leaned back in her chair, wiping the blood from her hands as she looked over to Logan as he patted the damp rag against Jo's face, trying to cool the unconscious girl down, "All we can do is wait for her to wake up on her own." Rose bit her lip, turning her head just a bit when she felt Daryl's hand on her shoulder, squeezing it gently as he knelt down beside her.

"You did good Rosie," He whispered, running his thumb along her collarbone as she nods, placing her hand over his.

Logan moved around Rose carefully, picking Johanna's head up as he slid onto to bed, laying her head in his lap. He had never been so scared in his life. He had always been able to protect her, he couldn't save her family, he couldn't save his friends, but he had always been able to save her, and this time, this time he had to count on someone else to save her… to save the love of his life, his Johanna, and now he could possibly lose her. Logan closed his eyes, stroking Johanna's hair as he fought back crying, he had done enough of that.

Rose frowned as she stood up slowly, Daryl standing with her watching her carefully as she turned on her heel, and began to roll the towel up, the surgical tools inside of it, "I need to get washed up, and I need to sterilize these." She murmured, glancing towards the cell door as Rick came in, gripping onto the bar as he looked down at the kids in the bed, frowning.

"How'd it go?"

Rose gave a small shrug, as she turned to him, the towel in her arms, "Hershel's cut was clean, he didn't sever anything major, I was able to cauterize it and it should heal up on its own now," She glanced back at Johanna, "We'll have to change her bandages every few hours." She said nodding slowly, "I used our last bit of antibiotics, so we'll have to go on a run soon," She turned back to Rick, "Once it's safe."

Rick nods slowly, looking over to Logan, who was muttering something under his breath to Johanna, stroking her hair still, "Son… You know it may not work," Rick said sadly, Logan tensing a bit.

"I don't want to talk about that right now," He snapped, Rose frowning as she shook her head, muttering something to herself that Daryl couldn't quite make out.

"It's for the safety of the group, we have to take precautions" Rick understood what Logan was going through, he truly did, but he had to think about the group, about the children, about his family.

Logan closed his eyes for a moment, a tear slipping down his cheek as he nods before looking back up at Rick, his eyes glassy , "Then I'll kill her myself." He choked out, his jaw clenching as Rick nods slowly.

"Give them some space," Daryl said, nodding towards the exit, "Come on." His hand went on Rose's shoulder, "Let's go get you cleaned up." Rose nods, following after Rick as Daryl pushes her forward, the rest of the group watching her carefully as Daryl led her towards the showers in the back.

The news about what happened to Rose in Woodbury had gotten around, and what had just happened outside the prison, her beating the walker Ryder to a bloody pulp definitely had them worried. It wasn't like Rose to break down so easily, they all knew that, but of course she had been through a lot since being taken, and no one blamed her.

Rose hugged the towel closer to herself as Daryl squeezed her shoulder gently, guiding her through the empty halls of the prison. She had been quiet, but she had also been having to worry about making sure Johanna would live through the night, so Daryl couldn't quite pinpoint where her mind was. She had to have been suffering, he knew that much, he could see it whenever he tried to look her in the eyes and she averted her gaze… Rose was broken, but Daryl knew she was going to be okay, he was going to be sure of it.

"Come on Rosie," Daryl murmured, making her glance over at him as he gestured forward, having reached the shower rooms. Rose furrowed her eyebrows as she nods, pulling from his grip to walk ahead of him, setting the towel down on one of the benches on the side, sitting down herself.

"Daryl," She whispered his name, holding her hand out, Daryl walking over slowly kneeling in front of her, "Thank you." She said as he took her hand, "You really are… just so good to me, you're amazing." She brought his knuckles up to her lips, kissing them gently, "I'd be so lost without you, I love you so much."

Daryl licked his bottom lip, not really sure what to say considering he wasn't ever one to take compliments very well, let alone a heartfelt confession, "I love you too Rosie." Was all he could think of, and all he thought was important, and it seemed to be all Rose needed, because she smiled through her teary eyes, leaning her cheek against the hand she held, his other hand moving to stroke her hair gently as he pressed his lips to her head, "I ain't gonna let anything else happen to you," He murmured against her hair, gripping it a bit, "to Jamie, to us…"He kissed her hair again, "We're a family now, you, me, and your girl."

Rose nods, her eyes closing as a few tears slipped past them, moving to wrap her arms around Daryl's neck, hugging him just as tight as he held back, burying her face in his neck. He was all she needed, as long as she had him, as long as she had Jamie, she was going to be okay, she was sure of it.

xXx

Logan had finally left Johanna's side at Rick's request. Her breathing was normal, her pulse was normal, she seemed to be fine, but she just wasn't waking up, and Logan was worried. But he had to have faith, it was Johanna, and he knew that no matter what that the girl he loved wasn't going to give up so easily, not after everything that had been through.

Logan stood off to the side, close to Daryl and close to the cell Johanna was in listening carefully as Hershel said they should leave, Logan looking towards the man for a moment, before back at Rick as he cocked his gun.

"We're not leaving," Rick's voice was very serious, Logan nodding a little. They couldn't leave, Johanna wasn't in a condition where they could leave, and they really had nowhere else to go.

"We can't stay here," Hershel obviously was just as worried as the rest of them for the safety of the group, Logan knew he was right, but he was with Rick, there was no leaving, and they needed to stand their ground.

"What if there's another sniper?" Logan looked over to Maggie, "A wood pallet won't stop one of those rounds."

"We can't even go outside," Logan looked towards Beth, feeling like he was watching a tennis match, each survivor throwing in a useless thought, it wasn't like none of them were unaware of all these things… he closed his eyes as the drabble went on shaking his head.

"This is our home," He threw in quickly after Glenn, getting the rest of them to look at him as he tried to clear his throat from lack of talking, "We can't put Rose out there right now either, out where the Governor could find her, find us easily, and Jo… Jo isn't in any condition to be moved."

"No, it's better to live like rats," Logan slowly turned to look at Merle, Daryl's brother, who had his arms through the barred door, looking in at the group.

"You got any better idea?"

Logan shook his head again, crossing his arms over his chest as Glenn began to argue about Merle being there, Hershel on Daryl's side, it was all pointless, he didn't want to be part of this right now, he just needed to make sure Johanna was going to be okay.

When Hershel shouted at Rick it brought Logan back to senses, making him look at the crippled elder, frowning a bit, "You're slippin' Rick, we've all seen it, we understand why," Logan heard footsteps, and he looked up, seeing Rose slowly coming from her cell, leaning against the door some as she looked down at Rick sympathetically, "but now is not the time. You once that this isn't a democracy, now you have to own up to that." Logan tore his eyes away from Rose, looking back at Rick and Hershel, "I put my family's life in your hands, so get your head clear and do something."

"Don't," Everyone turned at the sound of Rose's voice, "Don't lose yourself Rick," She said, taking a few steps forward, "You're not in this alone," Her voice was a little shaky, and distant making Logan wonder if she was directing this just at Rick, if she was directing it at him, at herself as well, "and let's not put all of this on him." She finished looking at Hershel, and at the others, "He may of said this isn't a democracy, but we all know as fucking well he's just one man, he can't do all the hard stuff for us." Her voice was harsh, and it seemed to sting a few people as she shook her head before disappearing back into her cell, Logan seeing Daryl smiling just a bit because of it.

"She's back," Logan found himself saying, drawing out the words like the little girl in 'Poltergeist' before he chuckled, the others looking at him strangely.

xXx

Jamie stood outside of Johanna's cell watching as Logan checked her pulse again, before sitting down in the chair beside her bed, stretching his long lanky legs out, looking over at the little girl.

"How is Joey?" She asks, clutching her tattered stuffed animal to her side, Logan smile just a bit.

"She's going to be okay," He muttered, motioning her over, and Jamie quickly walked into the cell, stopping right beside Johanna's bed, staring down at the sleeping woman.

"My momma told me she's just like sleeping beauty," Jamie whispered, looking over at Logan, "She said that all she needs is for you to be there, kissin' her every now and again she'd wake up," Jamie looked at him expectantly, "You're not kissin' her enough Logan."

Logan couldn't help but to laugh, his hand going over his mouth to stifle his chuckles just a bit, before Jamie gave him another look, making him jump into action and lean over, pressing a chaste kiss to Jo's lips, before looking over at Jamie as she stared at Johanna, smiling, "Her eyelashes twitched," She said, her smile bright, almost contagious.

"Must be working then," He said, taking Jamie's elbow in his hand, bring her closer, "But what she really needs is the kiss of a princess, not just me, I'm only a measly prince," He said, holding Jamie as she leaned forward, and kissed Johanna's cheek, "Now she should wake up even sooner." He laughed, hugging Jamie a bit as she settled on his lap, both of them looking down at Johanna.

"How's your mom doing?" Logan asked now, tilting his head some as Jamie turned in his lap to face him, shrugging a tiny bit.

"She's asleep right now, Mr. Daryl's with her, he told me that I should go find someone to play with while she rests," Jamie frowns, rubbing at her eyes, "Everyone's busy though."

Logan nods slowly, "Bad stuff happened the other day," He muttered, Jamie nodding in agreement.

"There's only bad stuff now," She mumbled, pulling at her curls a little, "Momma's really sad, cause she had to kill my daddy, and before that she was really sad too… because of the Governor." Jamie closed her eyes, trying really hard not to cry, "Joey got bit… Glenn and Maggie are mad at Merle." Jamie sighed, leaning her head on Logan's shoulder as she wiped her eyes again, "I just wish this would all stop."

Logan frowns, wrapping his arms tighter around Jamie when she started to cry softly, placing his chin on the top of her head, "It's all going to be okay Jamie," He whispered, closing his own eyes, "Everything will be okay in the end, if it's not okay, it's not the end."

Carol glanced inside of Johanna's cell, frowning some when she met eyes with Logan, who was holding Jamie, the little girl trembling in his arms as she let out the tears she had been holding back. She couldn't begin to fathom how much that little girl had gone through in the past few weeks, it was heart breaking. She glanced at Johanna for a moment, Logan simply nodding, his way of telling her she was okay before she made her way towards the stairs, where Daryl had gone after storming away in anger from the Glenn and the rest of them.

She peeked her head in the cell, looking at Daryl who was cleaning his arrows, one leg on ground, the other resting on the bed, Rose beside him curled up facing the wall. Carol looked to him, watching as he pressed a finger to his lips, Carol nodding as she leaned against the door way.

"I haven't had a chance to say I'm glad you came back," She said quietly, both them glancing at Rose who squirmed in her sleep, before falling still again.

"To what… all this?" He whispered, playing with the arrow in his hand, glancing back at Carol as she moved into the room, sitting down on the chair near the bed.

"This is our home," She shrugged a little, and Daryl pursed his lips thinking about it for a moment.

"This is a tomb," Carol stared at him, before turning her head, looking up at the ceiling.

"That's what T-Dog called it, "Thought he was right, till you found me." Carol looked back over at him, smiling a little, and Daryl smiling back some before looking away again, going back to distracting himself with his arrow, before she began speaking again, "He's your brother, but he's not good for you, he's not good for your girls," Daryl looked back down at Rose, his eyebrows creasing together, "Don't let him bring you down, after all," He glanced back up at her, noticing her nod towards Rose, "Look how far you've come." Daryl looked around the cell, before chuckling, Carol laughing with him for a moment, before she stood slowly, "I'm sure you know how much Rose is going to need you right now," She said, looking at Rose, not knowing that the girl's eyes were wide open, have been listening to everything the two shared, "Jamie too, the both of them, they've been abused far too much." Carol smiled again, "You're exactly what they need."

xXx

Rose had gotten up, thought she still hadn't left her cell, she managed to get on a pair of new clothes, and was currently brushing Jamie's hair. She heard the ruckus that was going on, but Daryl instructed that she and Jamie stay inside the cell, and she really wasn't in the defiant mood, she just wanted to stay, and braid her girl's hair. Jamie seemed rather content too, and it was going to stay like that she hoped, completely unaware to what was going on in the visiting room just outside the cellblock for the moment.

Daryl stared at Andrea, she looked completely fine, but of course she was, she was the Governor's girl. The fact of how clueless she was to the type of man he was pissed him off more than he thought, and having to listen to her go on about all the lies he had told her, how he hadn't told her a single thing about coming to prison, what he had done to Michonne, Glenn, Maggie… Rose, it had him tipping over the edge.

"He didn't tell you what he done?" He spat out, shaking his head as she turned to look at him, still a bit shaken up and confused by the way they all treated her, so untrusting, "What he did to Rose? To Jamie?"

Andrea shook her head slowly, "I… I don't know.." She said her eyebrows creasing together, "What happened? What did he do?" She whispered, looking around the group, taking in all the expressions.

Daryl shook his head, looking away from her now, chewing on the inside of his cheek. It wasn't his business to tell, it was Rose's… and God knows she needed to talk to someone about it, and Andrea may have been the perfect person. Though, Andrea wanted nothing more than to make peace, a peace that Daryl was sure was never going to be achieved, and Rick saying that they planned on killing him, no matter what, just proved his point.

"We can settle this," Andrea said looking to Rick, "There is room at Woodbury, for… for all of you." Andrea exclaimed, her arms moving at her sides as she spoke, Merle chuckling.

"You know better than that."

Hershel pursed his lips, looking towards her, "What makes you think this man wants to negotiated, did he say that?"

Andrea stayed silent, before shaking her head, "No"

"Then why'd you come here?" Rick asked, Andrea turning back to him.

"Cause he's gearing up for war, the people are terrified, the see you as killers, they're training to attack." Andrea looked around the room, at all the faces, the people she loved, the people she had been lying to the governor to about their whereabouts all this time, she wanted them to be in Woodbury with her, she wanted them to be at peace finally.

"I'll tell you what," Daryl spoke, getting her attention again, noticing the scowl on his face, "next time you see _Phillip_," He practically spat out the governor's name, the venom in his words clear as day, "tell him I'm gonna take his other eye, because there's no way in hell I'd ever take Rose and Jamie back into that hell hole."

"We've taken to much shit for too long, he wants a war he's got one." Andrea swallowed when Glenn spoke, they were all so dead set on going to war, not a single one seemed to want to try to work it out with the Governor.

"Rick," Andrea turned to him, taking a few steps towards him, "If you don't sit down and try to work this out, I don't know what's going to happen. He has a whole town." Andrea shook her head, turning around the room again, "Look at you, you've lost so much already, you can't stand alone anymore."

Rose had heard the shouting getting louder, and had recognized Andrea's voice, and so did Jamie. When Rose spotted the blonde, her heart broke, and she was so happy that she felt like she was going to start crying again… but them she remembered the way that Andrea had looked at the Governor, and how she called his name… she was with him, with that monster…

"You wanna make this right," Rick quickly approached her, Daryl turning when he heard footsteps, seeing Rose walking further into the room, Jamie at her side, both of them looking at Andrea, "Get us inside."

"No,"

"Then we got nothing to talk about,"

"There are innocent people,"

Rose watched Rick as he walked past her, Andrea seeing her now, a smile growing on her face, "Rose… talk to them, please, you know that this is the right thing."

Rose narrowed her eyes, "No." She said shaking her head, "That man, your _governor_, I want him dead…. I want to do it myself." She spat out, Andrea's jaw falling open some, "He's getting' what's coming to him, that bastard is going to suffer." Her voice shook, and Andrea stepped towards her but Rose quickly shook her head, and walked away, Andrea stopping in her movements at loss for words as she looked over to Daryl, who watched Rose storm off.

"You're gonna have to work that out with her," He muttered, Jamie running over, going to Andrea, Logan looking at the two girls as Andrea stared at Daryl's retreating figure, Jamie's arms wrapping around Andrea's legs.

"Rose obviously doesn't approve of your choice in men," Andrea looked at him, not having met him at all before, and he just gave her a small sad smile, before going back into the cell block to check on Johanna.

xXx

Rose sat on her bunk, lacing up her combat boots, Daryl sitting on the bed beside her, screwing around with one of his arrows again as she tucked her skinny jeans into the shoes, before leaning back sighing a little.

"You mad at her?" Daryl asked Rose turning to look at him, pursing her lips as she shook her head.

"No," She leaned her head against his shoulder, "No I'm not mad at her…" She said, resting her hands on his thigh, "I just… Don't think I can stand to be around her…"

Daryl nods slowly, "You know… Rose, if you tell her," Rose pulled away already shaking her head, "I'm not saying you have to Rosie, but if you did, she'd know how much of a bastard he is, and why we can't go to Woodbury, she ain't gonna understand unless she knows." Rose nods.

"I know that," She whispers, her eyes closing, "I know but I… I don't think I can talk about it," She said squeezing her eyes shut tighter, "I don't think I can… I can find the…" Daryl shushed her, placing his arrow on the bed as he placed his hand on hers that were balling up into fists on her thighs, "It's okay Rose," He muttered, leaning his forehead against hers when she turned to look at him, brushing his lips to hers gently, "You don't have to do anything you don't want to, ." He placed his hand on her cheek, pulling back just a bit when she leaned into his touch, "You're in control now," He said squeezing her hand gently with his other one, "You ain't got nothing to worry about." Rose nods, taking in a steady breath before opening her eyes again, Daryl wiping away the tear that was about to fall, "You're okay."

Rose nods, "I'm okay." She mumbled back, smiling weakling before pressing her lips to his, her hand going to his neck, "I'm okay."

Daryl kissed her back slowly, not wanting her to have any chances to think back to the Governor, he only wanted her to think of him, for her to know that he was touching her, not the Governor, not him ever again.

He slid his hand up her bare arm slowly, feeling the goosebumps raising on her skin as she slid her fingers into his hair, deepening their kiss some, before pulling back suddenly, Daryl knowing why when he heard Andrea mumble out a sorry.

"Sorry guys," Andrea said sheepishly, Daryl turning to look at her as Rose stood up, "I… I just wanted to talk to you, Rose, before I left." She said, Daryl standing now to, looking over to Rose to make sure it was okay.

Rose nods, and Daryl lips twitched with a small smile, leaning down to brush a chaste kiss to her cheek before leaving Andrea alone with Rose.

They stared at each other for a few moments, Rose keeping her arms close to herself, worrying her bottom lip between her teeth as Andrea held her arms to her sides, trying to think about the best way to approach this was. She had no idea what had happened to Rose, in fact, she had thought Rose was dead since Jamie and Ryder showed up in Woodburry. But here she was, alive as can be… well, there was something about her eyes that weren't quite the same, Rose wasn't the same… The Governor… Phillip, he had done something to her.

"I'm sorry Rose," She whispered, taking a step forward, I'm sorry If I upset you before… I just, I just want to be able to keep everyone alive." Rose nods, she understood, that's what she wanted too, apart from the Governor, she wanted him dead more than anything.

"There won't ever be peace between this group and _your's_ Andrea."

"You guys are my group," Andrea defended quickly, "I want you safe, I can't let him attack you, you… you guys won't be able to win."

"Then help us win," Rose sounded almost desperate as she stepped towards Andrea, pleading with her, "Help us, please, please he's a horrible person Andrea, he's… cruel, and vile… he's a monster." Her voice cracked and Andrea felt tears forming in her own eyes as she looked at Rose.

"What happened to you Rosie?" She whispered, and Rose shook her head, moving to sit on the bed, her hands going into her hair, "Wh-What did he do to you?"

Rose shook her head slowly, sniffling as she looked up at Andrea, wiping at her nose, "He… He killed Ryder," She mumbled, closing her eyes, "He beat him… he tortured him, he chained him up the floor, and shot him, left him to bleed out." Andrea felt her heart drop as she slowly sat beside Rose, "He fucked with Maggie's head, had her take her clothes off in front of him, made her think… think he was going to rape her…" Rose felt a few tears slipping from her eyes, and down her cheeks, but kept going, "He was going to kill Glenn and Maggie, He locked Jamie up in a cage with a walker, a little girl her age, his own daughter…. You saw what he did to Michonne…. To Daryl, to Merle." She opened her eyes, letting out a breath, "He… he raped me." Andrea remained silent, Rose noticing her hands tremble, "He left me in the room with Ryder, he… he was gonna let him kill me in there I think…." Rose shook her head as she remembered, "He told Merle 'That's my girl now, and if I want her to die… she dies."

Andrea's eyes closed, her heart aching as Rose placed her hand on hers, trying to comfort her, and it only made it worse… a man that she slept with, a man she opened her heart up to did all those horrible things to her friends, her best friend, "He's not a good person Andrea," Rose said quietly, "He's a monster… he doesn't need your help, he doesn't need convincing, he needs stopped."

Andrea looked over at Rose, her jaw set as she nods, "Then we make a plan…"

**_Dun, dun, DUUUUN. I hope you all enjoyed this chapter, more to come in the next, sorry for the very late update I'm horrible I know. But I got a new computer, widows 8 is a bit of a bitch but im getting used to it! Don't forget to review! And also, if you guys want me to do any oneshots you should let me know give me some ideas, like AUs with Rose and Daryl in a word where walkers aren't trying to kill them 24/7 anything really to get me back into action! I love you all so much!_


End file.
